A Certain Hidden Intervention - An Overshadowing Darkness
by LoremasterEolas
Summary: A month has passed since the events of 'A Certain Hidden Level Five'. And Eolas' peaceful days that he had gained is soon shattered upon the news of his father's death. Which leads to a decision to visit his Sister, Laura Stuart in England. But while his history with magic comes to light, loyalties are tested as a battle quickly rages for the future of a nation.
1. Paying Respects?

**Prologue**

_'What happened?'_

He had thought while trying to free himself from the rubble that has fallen on him. This wasn't much of trouble for him, his telekinetic power was incredibly powerful. He carefully lifted them up to ensure he doesn't throw them on anyone else in the area. And the first thing he sees as he escapes the rubble was nothing but dark cloudy skies. This wasn't because it was going to rain, but due to the wide spread fires that has engulfed the surrounding area. Managing to move the rubble safely, he had looked around carefully to find a terrifying sight. Around him was nothing but bodies of fallen knights and what looked like magicians. But also the rubble that he was just buried in was none other then the remains of Big Ben. He was dazed by what he was seeing, basically the heart of London was in blaze. The only thing that managed to snap him out of it was the song of his phone ringing.

Taking out his phone with the very familiar duck strap attached to it. He had found out that it was Mikoto Misaka ringing him. He didn't waste time answering, hoping that she would help figure out what was going on. But what he heard on the other side of the phone shock him deeply.

"Hello my beloved weapon..."

It was the voice of Aleister crowley and instantly he checked the caller ID. It was in fact Mikoto's number and yet he was speaking. This had only sparked an angry reaction.

"What have you done with Mikoto! ALEISTER!"

"Eolas..."

"ANSWER ME!"

"Eolas wake up..."

"huh..."

The sudden change of voice to that of a young girl. Instantly snapped him out of his rage.

"Eolas we're about to arrive. Wake! up!"

Suddenly he had felt something pushed him over and as he had fallen his sight darkened until he couldn't see anything. Slowly but surely the sound of a passenger train travelling started to accompany him this darkened sight. Then when he had recognised that sound, his sight started to return. It had started to make sense when he found himself in a passenger train, there weren't a lot of people in the train. Well at least not in the section he was in, this is because from looking outside it was morning. He remembered now that he had taken a late night train to Kyoto.

_'That nightmare again, what the hell is wrong with that?' _

Eolas looked to the right of him, to see the young girl Sarah sitting right next to him. She had his black blazer around herself to keep warm.

"Eolas?"

Eolas' natural insticts took over and he patted her on the head followed by a apology for falling asleep. Both of them were on a trip to Kyoto, he was coming here to pay respects to that old couple who were killed by Michael. And Sarah had come along because she always wanted to visit Kyoto for some reason. Which was a surprise for him when she had asked. She had been rather upset about the news of her brother and Eolas thought this trip could be a chance to cheer her up. Suddenly the train speaker started project an accoutrement.

"Now arriving at Kyoto station in Shimogyō-ku ward"

Their train was soon about to stop, but that wasn't really on his mind. Thinking about his nightmare, he continues to do the exact same thing after each time. He took out his phone to see if there was anything from Mikoto Misaka. He can't really put his finger on it but he feels something bad is going to happen. But it not like anything could influence his dreams... right?... The sound of the arrival alarm and the opening of the train doors had snapped him out of his thought. Though her voice was kinda of overshadowed by the crowded station, she was pulling on his shirt to get his attention at the same time.

"The train is stopped!"

She had said with a worried expression, it was very easy to tell that Eolas was frustrated about something. But he quickly shock it off and offered his hand.

"It's a big place so I don't want you to get lost... We have a couple of hours before I get that call, so let's explore the city!"

Sarah nodded with a smile and took Eolas' hand.

* * *

**Chapter 1** - Paying Respect?

**December 12th, 9:30am**

"Onee-Sama. Why are you going to that ape's apartment? Isn't he supposed to be in Kyoto now?"

Both of them was in their very familiar dormitory. Despite being a site of a battle over a month ago, the school had it cleared up and fixed quickly. Most of their items which were damaged had also been quickly replaced. While it did have that fresh feeling, the room kinda was the same old place. Both of them had recently gotten dressed in their winter uniform. Neither of them had school today, but according to school rules while attending Tokidawai. They had to wear their uniform while they out and about.

Kuroko was preparing to go to the judgement office, normally it would be quite on these days but ever since last month. There had been lot of unexplained disturbances, she hadn't known it and Mikoto had decided not to say anything. But it was due to Eolas' interference with the underworld of Academy city. Despite the trouble it had caused years ago, it was decided that he had to carve out his own support in the underworld. Mikoto didn't exactly like what he was doing, but she understands the reason behind it. You see she had finally been told everything, including about that certain man influencing the events of the city. While she believes a lot of it, she did found it hard to believe a certain part of his explanation. Specially when it came round to the whole concept of magic and that he comes from a magical gifted family.

"Onee-Sama?"

Kuroko said to try and get her attention.

"Hmm. I'm going because he needed help setting up his laptop. He is still completely clueless when it comes to that stuff and he needs it by tomorrow morning."

Kuroko sighed from the answer, she found out couple of days ago first hand how clueless that boy was with computers. You see he offered to help at Judgement and ended up deleting data from their computers by mistake. After Kuroko had explained that situation, Mikoto couldn't help but to smile. Because he actually did that on purpose. Only to cover his tracks from previous nights.

However she still couldn't help but feel embarrassed for him when Kuroko explained what happened next. Somehow he actually tried to print off some papers, he actually caused the printer to break. It happened so suddenly and it was hard to explain. It was like the printer just broke right there and then. So Kuroko found out on that day not to accept Eolas' help, specially when it comes to office work.

"So why does he need it?"

Kuroko had asked which was quickly answered by Mikoto.

"Well he's been away from school for over two years, he has a lot of work to catch up. So I suggested that would help him get through it rather quickly. But considering his luck with computers, this actually may of been a bad idea."

Mikoto realised the reality of his situation. She always knew that he was hopeless but to actually suggest a computer would help him? Looks like it's going to take longer for him to deal with nearly three years of middle school homework. Still she might as well get that laptop up and running. It wasn't long until Mikoto and Kuroko part ways from the Tokiwadai dormitory. Kuroko had a very busy day ahead and while she knows the reason Mikoto couldn't tell her about it.

In fact she was the only one who knew of Eolas' activities. You see not long after Michael's defeat a month ago, both she and Eolas had a heart to heart chat about the past. He had promised not to keep her in the dark anymore, not wanting to make the same mistake. Considering his enemies now about their connection, her knowing about what was going on wouldn't make much difference. While he decided that the others shouldn't exactly get involved. At least for them, they could escape any drama caused by his actions. But strangely enough, it wasn't like last time when it was just him and Misaki.

Back then Eolas was willing to kill to fulfil his objectives. He would ruin the lives of those who lived in the underworld to create a strangle hold. But that was no longer the case. Mikoto remembers when Eolas showed her a little notebook. It had a long list of the people he had killed. It was just names he had remembered and surprisingly he knew the name of every single one. His memory was good in that way and she knew this was his way for paying for his sins. To never forget the lives he had taken away. She remember seeing it the last time, the last name on the list was that of Sarah's brother. Despite not being the direct cause, Eolas took his life on his shoulders and promised himself not to destroy another. So this time around he no longers took the direction he did in the past. In fact this time he had carved out his own support in the underworld by helping others. Still he takes extreme action against cruel individuals but he only immobilise them.

Two years ago, it would be Misaki who was the only one in the know regarding his activities. But when he left he promised to remove Misaki from the dark side of Academy city. His actions leading to now had just done that. Which is why he hadn't involved her that much this time around. While Mikoto know what hes up too she doesn't get personally involved. Well not all the time, it seems their teamwork at taking down Michael had inspired further cooperative action.

However, she doesn't get involved that much. She respects Eolas' wishes for her to continue living her student life. Which annoys her to a certain extent, knowing the reason of his underworld activities again. It makes her feel frustrated. She wonders if hes trying to take on all the responsibility again. Because his attitude had slightly changed since moving into this new apartment. It's like he has seen something, which had disturbed him greatly. But despite asking what's wrong he had said it was nothing. This has only made her feel more worried...

"Misaka! Found ya!"

A very familiar voice called out to her as she had passed a certain vending machine. It was none other then Saten Ruiko, unlike Mikoto and Kuroko's school. She wasn't forced to wear her school uniform. So she was in her normal clothes, while Mikoto was wearing her winter uniform.

"Hello Saten, you was looking for me?"

Saten suddenly had a crafty smile

"You going to his apartment now right?"

This suddenly surprised Mikoto and she wondered how she know.

"How do you know?"

Still having a smile she continued to explain how she knew, while also leading the way.

"Kuroko called me to make sure you don't do anything strange. So I'm coming, want to check out his new place as well."

It took a moment for her to realise and this made her feel embarrassed.

"Wait what do you mean by that? Saten! Hey! What you mean?"

...

...

...

**12:34pm**

Back in Kyoto, two certain individuals one who was a telekinetic user and the other a teleporter were window shopping, literally. Well they weren't buying anything yet, but they seem glued to a shop window. You see they were right outside a plushie store, which sold all kinds of toy plushies and they had seen something which they both found...

"CUTEEEE!"

Both Eolas and Sarah had said union. But it wasn't directed towards the same thing, while Eolas' reaction was obvious as their was a very large duck plushie in the window. It was the typical yellow duck plushie but with a tophat, which made express such a childish smile. He had thought Sarah had saw the same thing.

"Isn't that duck so cute"

He had said pointing towards it in the window, Sarah only shock her head which surprised Eolas.

"Huh? What do you find cute then?"

Sarah pointed towards a rather charming looking lion, from the look on her face she found it rather cute. She had very same childish smile which Eolas had, but then compared to him she was still a child.

"Do you want it?"

"I can?"

"Sure, today's my treat reme..."

Eolas stopped talking sentence. This is because the moment Eolas said 'sure' Sarah had teleported inside, where the squirrel plushie was seen from the window.

"Hey, you shouldn't use your powers like that outside the city. And you shouldn't actually be in there... Hello! Sarah! Hey are you ignoring me! What happen to the young girl I knew who was polite and liked ducks!"

This carried on for a good five minutes, no matter what Eolas did Sarah seemed entranced by the lion plushie. It made him wonder if hes like that when it comes to duck plushies. Though he wasn't sure himself, which told wonders about how he saw himself. Regardless after a shop attendant had to ask her to leave the window display. Both of them was on the way to the checkout with their chosen plushie. But something had caught his attention. It was in the corner of the shop and it awfully stood out among the other plushies, this was because both of them were a type of brown colour or yellow toys while this one was green.

"Miko-Chan's favourite colour is green."

He had said to himself and decided to walk over. Sarah followed unsure what he was up too, both of them had approached the toy in question and it was a Gekota plushie. Funny enough it was one with a santa outside, except the actual santa suit was also green with white trim. It was rather cute, if you liked the actual toy. It also held a brown bag, like a santa would with all the toys.

"Her favourite colour is green? How you know?"

Sarah asked, which Eolas naturally answered.

"When you know that girl as long as I have, you'll notice she had a tendency to like certain things. Like the Gekota toy series, which considerately is green. She also had green Gekota pyjamas... Basically she has a long of things which are green and I do remember once when she was just as old as yourself. She told me what her favourite colour was then."

"So whats your favourite colour?"

Eolas answered this question rather pumped and excited.

"Yellow like a rubber ducky."

Sarah didn't look surprise and actually wondered why he liked ducks so much. But she didn't have a chance to answer. Because Eolas grabbed the Santa Gekota and along with his own personal choice. He had urged the young Sarah to follow. Some reason he suddenly was rushing and only after they brought all three plushies did the reason become clear. The moment they got out of the store, Eolas had received a phone call on his phone. What great timing and though Sarah could only hear once side of the following conversation. She begins to understand what was happening as it went on.

"So you finally called... Yeah... So what do you find out? What... You mean it? Are you sure? ... Yeah that's their names... No... thank you, you were a great help."

Eolas ended that call, there and while the end of the conversation sounded up beat. He look rather confused and that was for good reason.

"Eolas?"

Sarah asked wondering what was going on.

"Hmm, sorry hey we can go home sooner then planned. It looks like we have no reason to pay respect. It looks like I was mistaken."

Sarah also look rather confused. Again she wasn't the only one, it seems that despite what he found out during his fight with Michael. A certain couple were actually still alive, despite what that Rensa had said a month ago. It made it sound like it was so true, but his contact on the phone confirmed they were still alive. So why did Michael said that a month ago? Was he just saying it to manipulate his emotions? He remember exactly what Michael had said back then...

...

_"Back then I would be running scared, something I couldn't avoid. I was programmed to ensure my survival until my objective is complete. But now I don't know how to put this in words. But your true power is a joke, being confined so easily by subject three's powers. Who wouldn't of thought that the powers of the one you tried so hard to protect had the power to end you? Did you do it to keep somebody like her off your back? Was that your game Lucifer? You seem pretty content with using people after all... Considering the last two years... last two years... last two years. Don't you remember Lucifer? The people's lives you have ruined for just being... Alive... Like that old couple in Kyoto. You remember them? They took you in when you had no where to call home and no past to cling too. And you know what they got for their kindness? **...Death...** And the last thing they saw was the boy they helped killing them. The expression on their face was rather interesting. Was it fear? No they didn't give that vibe... Was is confusion? I'm not sure... I still have much to learn... learn... Learn... Obviously it wasn't you who did it and neither would I if they didn't lie about you. I guess that I was asking for your location while we share your appearance threw them off. Using your voice didn't help matters. Oh well. Like they matter any more."_

_..._

Despite being an enemy of his, Eolas always counted on the fact it never lied to him. Yet in that moment was the only moment when it had told Eolas false information. So was it simply just lying to manipulate his emotions. If it did then he had to admit Michael was smart as Eolas fell right for it. Still it had made him wonder, because Michael had killed people who helped Eolas before. Why didn't it choose anyone of them? Why choose someone it didn't kill.

Sarah knew why Eolas had come here, so she wondered about something.

"If they still alive, why not go and see them?"

It was a good question, nothing was stopping them. But Eolas felt it was not needed. There was no need to interact with them anymore. Even though it's been rather peaceful in comparison to the last few years. He feel there was no need to involve them further in his life. Well for now at least, he does want to see them again one day. But they weren't the only ones. If they were alive and well then there was no need to complicate their lives anymore.

"It's hard to explain, but I feel it's best not to see them as this point of time. I'm just happy they're alive... yeah... ... Well the next train leaves at 2pm. So let's get some souvenirs for the others before we leave. We both got school tomorrow you know."

Sarah for some reason didn't look happy. Was it because he trip was coming to an end and there was school tomorrow? Eolas didn't really understand, but he had hope she was having fun at least.

...

...

...

**Academy City, 2pm**

Upon meeting Saten, Mikoto's plans didn't go as she had expected. She didn't complain, because she had fun with Saten. Though both of them couldn't but help feel guilty Kuroko and Uiharu were stuck all day during Judgement duties. Well it wasn't actually neither of their fault, more so it was a certain boy's fault. The reason they felt guilty is they pretty much played at the arcades and even had some nice lunch. You expect Mikoto would of gone to the apartment but after hearing what Saten said, she devoid from that path to prove that she didn't care that much about going there. Even though she hasn't actually visited it yet. She was only given a key to his apartment the day before.

She had seen the hotel he was staying at while looking for a new place. But she never saw his previous apartment. She was always curious how he'd live in his own place. The life he had built in his own personal space. She had learned a phrase from Eolas himself. That every englishman's home is his castle. His enthusiasm of having a proper apartment other then a student one. She just felt curious and personally she wanted to ensure she knew what he lived.

But she couldn't really let Saten know that she was rather curious. But from how she was acting, she probably already can tell. And time had move faster then she had expected, she could no longer stall the inevitable. She knew that Eolas would be back later today and she did promise to get that laptop sorted for him.

The building was rather nice looking, in fact it had that rather uptown feel which can be compared to the Garden of learning. Mikoto was use to the style, she actually thought nothing of it. But you can see the surprise from Saten's expression. Both of them vaguely heard something rather perculier.

_"Misaka said and she jumped for joy from excitement."_

Saten didn't really notice it, only Mikoto realised it but didn't pay alot of attention. But Last Order and Accelerator were heading away from them. It looked like they were heading to the shopping center. This was just a reminder that Accelerator also lived here, so honestly this couldn't be a better place for Eolas. Two of the most powerful Esper in academy city, you would be foolish to attack this place. Also considering a certain Anti-skill officer also lived in this building.

"Come on lets go in. His apartment must look rather posh!"

Mikoto couldn't help but to smile from the fact, Saten actually shared the same enthusiasm to see his place. Though it was probably for different reasons. The apartment was on the top floor, there being over four floors in total. Excluding the ground floor. According to the owners of the building, his apartment was at the end of the hall on the top floor. It was like it was excluded from the other apartments on the floor. It probably was a nice thing, it means more privacy and he didn't really have a neighbour because of it.

But upon opening the door using the key she got from Eolas. Both her and Saten was surprised from what they seen. The apartment was definitely big, in fact the room they enter was a giant front room and the entire wall on the opposite side of the front door was actually large patio doors which lead onto a balcony. It look out on many buildings and even a posh looking park. The sight was amazing, but the entire room itself was a mess. Most of the furniture was partially placed or unpacked. It was like that somebody had stopped halfway in moving in. There was boxes piled up against the wall and some unused cabinets to store books/films in. In the middle of the room there was one comfy look sofa and a large western styled coffee table. Which was honestly the neatest part of the room. There was a stack of papers which looked like from his school and some pens. Next to them was also the Laptop in question which she came to set up and a disk ontop of it. That must of been the OP system disk.

"What's in here... look at all of these books... does he have a diary?"

"Saten?"

Mikoto said who was amazed by how quick it took for Saten to search through the boxes. She was always like this and she acted in this manner when she first came to her dormitory. But while she was distracted she also took this chance to explore. The apartment was very big, the entire front room was bigger then two rooms at her dormitory. And surprisingly despite how big it was the place only had one bedroom. On the left side of the front room lead to a smaller hallway, which had two doors. One of them lead to a large bathroom and the other lead to the bedroom. Which actually look rather neat compared to the rest of the apartment.

The bed was well made and the furniture was all put together nicely. She know she was intruding but she suddenly felt worried. This is because on a small wooden side cabinet, there was a small jar of pills. She knew what it was and that it related to his condition after his fight with Michael.

She had remembered that he had tests about damaged to his internal organs.

It was about a month ago...

The Heaven Canceller had walked in while Mikoto and Eolas was talking in the hospital room. Despite her being in there, Eolas didn't mind she hear the results. For most of it Eolas had recovered from a lot of internal bruising, but his heart was the major problem. You see sometime during the fight he had strained his heart to dangerous levels. Eolas had figured out when and that is when he was restrained during the battle. Where the Rensa held him down with electromagnetic waves. After being taunted about the death of that couple in Kyoto he forced himself out of the restraints with a terrifying display of telekinetic power. He didn't realise then, but forcing out of being restrained had a toll on his heart. Apparently as a result the muscles around his heart was rather weak, but it wasn't life threatening. These pills he had received from the doctor are suppose to help strengthen his heart. But he was warned by the doctor back then...

_..._

_"You don't seem to be in a life threatening situation. But I must warn you, about using such extreme form of power again. Or at least being in that situation. It could further put a strain on your heart and maybe even worse. So just be careful and call me if anything happens..."_

_..._

Upon closing his bedroom door, she had stopped thinking about it. She always felt worried when it comes to that, but he had promised her she would only using his full powers when he had no other choice. Leaving that behind she had went to the other side of the apartment, while Saten was still looking through the boxes. It seemed she had found a long of Light novels and manga. Mikoto was heading to the kitchen to find a rather messy sight. It was rather messy and there was literally takeout leftovers in the kitchen. Basically from the looks of it, Eolas been eating nothing but takeouts recently.

For some reason this had made Mikoto rather annoyed. She thought if he had time to run around at night to deal with problems around the city. Why doesn't he deal with the problem at home. She was going to do something about it, she couldn't leave him to live in this type of mess. Knowing him recently he would continue living this way and now he has to worry about his health more. So she instantly went to Saten to ask for help, she intended to clean up and this only made Saten have a crafty smile. Despite knowing what she thinking, she managed to convince her to help...

"Let's get started."

Mikoto said with enthusiasm.

...

...

...

Time moved onwards and over six hours later a certain level five had returned to Academy city. He had seen to it that Sarah had arrived back home safely before heading home himself. He had a few bags with him full of souvenirs and two plushies. Sarah had taken her lion one home. He couldn't but help to wonder if she had a good time. She seemed grateful and was smiling. But he still wasn't sure.

It took him another half an hour before he arrived outside his apartment. He didn't really expect nothing, he thought that his laptop would be done is Mikoto was able to set it up. But he didn't expect what he found upon opening the door.

"Everything is tidy and put away. Even the tv is set up..."

It was a massive difference from earlier, in fact the room actually looked like a home. Everything was put away and the furniture was placed nicely around the room. And it didn't take him long to find the culprits. Saten and Mikoto had fallen asleep on the only sofa in the room. They looked warned out, but content for some reason. He couldn't believe they actually did all of this and now they were sleeping next to each other.

He really don't know what to say and he wasn't willing to wake them up. He looked around and managed to find a blanket. He put it over both of them so they can stay warm. He was happy to allow them to sleep. Moving the bags he brought form Kyoto next to him near the coffee table. He sat down on the floor and moved the laptop towards him. Despite taking a lengthy trip back, he did had to start on his homework, which was the pile of papers on the table. But upon trying to turn on the laptop he had found something rather amusing.

"Looks like I'm gonna have to wait."

The laptop still wasn't set up and he found it rather amusing as intead of doing something minor which she explained. They both had cleaned up and set up his apartment properly. It no longer looked halfway moved in, but a proper home. He was rather grateful, but it looked like he had to do his homework by hand...

He didn't know it yet, but Mikoto purposely didn't set it up. Because she thought it was best not to use a computer knowing his luck. Taking a brief look outside from where he was sitting, he looked upon the darkened skies of Academy city. And... he felt... content. Other then his recent nightmares his life has been good this last month. He was hoping it would never change...

* * *

**Author notes: **Hello guys and welcome to the second chapter in Eolas' story. There really isn't much to say, but I can imagine that the first few chapters will have a large slice of life feeling. This story is going to be a much more lengthy journey then the last and I'll admit something about the last story. Despite being classed as a romance, there wasn't that much romance. There was hints of it and suggestions. Because you know its hard to have a romance with one of them with broken memories.

I'm not going to promise the best romance writing, because I'm still pretty noobish at it. But I'll do my best to pull it off(Christmas day anyone?). Anyway I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of a new journey that would not only explore the history of Eolas' actual family and his relation to magic. But also decide the future of a nation.

P.s yeah I changed the supposed story title from last time.


	2. A Broken Family

**Chapter 2 - **A Broken Family

**12th December, 10:19pm**

The day has been very long for Eolas. Both him and Sarah had gotten a very early train to Kyoto, so this allowed both of them to enjoy the sights of the city while Eolas waited for a certain call. Upon receiving that call around lunch time, he had heard something rather contradicting to his knowledge. His contact was none other then Mikoto's father, so when it comes to him he never gets his information mixed up. This only meant one thing to Eolas, that Michael had given him false information and that hadn't happened before. Michael never understood the concept of lying, so why would it suddenly lie about the death of that certain couple? That question was in the corner of Eolas' mind ever since returning from Kyoto. The plan was to go there to pay respects to that couple's grave, but upon hearing that news it actually lightened his mood greatly. He had always felt guilty when he heard it from Michael. But now there was one less chip off his self-inflicted burden.

So his trip was a pretty good one and he had hoped Sarah also enjoyed himself. But he's finding it hard to read her recently, before she was a polite and duck loving girl. But now she likes lions more then ducks which was rather disappointing. Though he only says that in amusement, Eolas doesn't mind as long she is happy. To him she had suffered enough after being abandoned by her family and forcefully taken away from her brother. He still feel that the entire thing was his fault and somehow he wants to make things right. So other then the dream and this bloody homework he was forced to do...

"Seriously this stuff is about levelling up."

Eolas said in an outburst, he was pretty annoyed as while the work was easy. There was just so much of it and can't get through it all tonight. He was still working on them on the coffee table in his front room, while the two certain girls were sleeping. He had two piles of paper now. One with completed work and the other was the unlimited stacked homework. The completed stack was pretty large and yet the uncompleted stack looked like he hadn't started from a few hours ago. Normally he wouldn't bother using his powers to write, but he got so bored of it he allowed his telekinesis to write the answers the moment he thinks about them. Honestly he blamed himself for not thinking about this earlier. It was actually a faster method then writing by hand and he even had a better idea.

Quickly he had hurried around the apartment, trying to find some extra pens. He was very unsure because somebody else had actually unpacked most of his stuff. Other then that he had to be extra quite because they were fast asleep. He had only managed to find a pack of four. Including the two he already had on the table, this was good enough for what he had planned. Moving the two piles off the table, he then placed six uncompleted sheets across the table. Then the magic happened, well you could call it that but the sight was rather amusing. With all those pens assembled he was using his telekinetic powers and the fullest extent of his calculating ability to answer all six papers at once. He was speeding through all the papers six at a time for every minute. He was going so fast, that one single mistake would probably cause him to ruin something. A laptop was no longer needed for such trifle questions and he knew it. This was one of those moments which actually displayed Eolas' remarkable calculating prowess, but even this certain level five didn't know all the answers. It had stopped the entire thing he had going on with all the homework.

Using his telekinetic powers, the paper flew to his hand merely by eye contact and a closer look quickly turned his confident expression to one of hopelessness. There was a distraught look on his face and he didn't understand anything. He actually started to feel embarrassed and his pride was in shambles after his little display moments ago.

...

...

...

"Here... that's the answer."

Mikoto's voice had snapped him out of his confusion. She was standing over him and pointing towards the answer on the paper. He hadn't notice that she had woken up, let alone walked over to him.

"Miko-chan"

Suddenly she lightly hit Eolas on the head by doing a karate chop.

"Do we need to talk about first names again?"

Eolas remembered what that talk was all about, considering that it erupted into a embarrassing argument. Basically she was trying to get him just to call her by her first name. You see from her point of view, she realised that she been calling him by his first name all the time. This is because the whole last name never came up in the past until a month ago. So she tried to just call him Stuart but it never worked. It just felt rather strange calling him that. So she felt it was fair if he just called him Mikoto, instead of Miko-chan. He is halfway there anyway, so it shouldn't be as hard as getting him to call her Misaka in the past. But she found it rather embarrassing, so he only asked him to say it in private. Saten was asleep, so it was fine right now.

But Eolas didn't say anything, he sat there with a bashful look on his face. And to hide it he tried to answer the next question. But it was just another complicated programming question. He couldn't but help to think somebody at the certain middle school is out to get him. But this was the perfect chance for Mikoto, she knelt down beside Eolas and gave him a crafty smile.

"I'll tell you the answer, if you only just say my first name."

She was slightly embarrassed but she was determined for him to say it. While Eolas was determined to try and answer this question on his own.

.

.

.

"Wow Misaka I didn't know you was that bold."

Saten was awake and she caught both of them off-guard. She had found them right next to each other and both had embarrassed expressions.

"Huh... No... no... It's not what you think!"

"Really? Then what was going on!"

Saten started to tease Mikoto, who tried her best to defend her position. While Eolas was still trying to answer the question, but even if he could answer it. It would be impossible under all this noise and without warning his slammed the pen on the table. Not because of Mikoto and Saten but is was down to the fact he saw the uncompleted pile.

_'Why the hell does that pile look untouched. I just went six papers per minute for a while. Just...'_

"Screw it, I give up. Come on you two, both of you have school tomorrow."

It was time to call it a night. And that is just what happened, being the gentlemen that he is he offered to escort them home. It was the least he can do after all they kind of tidied his apartment. Even though he asked Mikoto to do something else. The decision was made to ensure Saten got home first, even if they decided to stay the night at his apartment. She didn't have her uniform and her school is far from his apartment. So Eolas thought it was logical to ensure she got home safely. But both he and Mikoto kind of paid for that decision from her friendly teasing. But it was a good laugh on the way and time quickly move faster then he had expected. After seeing Saten off at her dormitory, both Eolas and Mikoto carried on walking together while talking about his trip to Kyoto. She was also surprised to find what Michael had said is a lie. She didn't have much interaction with that Rensa in the past, but she trusted Eolas' word that it never gave out false information. This conversation had took them all the way to a certain vending machine. This was were they were going to part ways for now, but not before he revealed contents of that bag.

"Just before you go..."

Speaking up suddenly had stopped Mikoto who was about to leave. And slowly he took that Santa themed Gekota present out of the bag and showed it to her with a bashful smile. Thankfully she didn't really notice his expression, because she was mesmerised by how the present is so cute!

"I thought it would be best not to give you this with Saten around. Consider it an early... Christmas present... ... Miko-chan..."

Eolas expected some sort of backlash from not saying her first name. He didn't said it because he just found it too embarrassing, considering a certain blonde haired level five told him what it means to call her by her full first name. So even the infamous sixth ranked level five didn't feel comfortable saying her first name. It's not like the same when it came to people using his first name, technically he was western so it didn't matter to him. But she wasn't so it means more to her and he realised it. But thankfully for him, the present he had given her right now seemed enough to distract her attention. Despite not saying her first name, she gratefully took it and instantly hugged the Gekota toy.

He didn't expect an actual thank you, she didn't need to say it, because the smile on her face was more then enough for him. What was going to follow was more then she had to do, to show her gratitude and Eolas was caught off-guard by it.

When she finally took her attention away from the Gekota Plushie, she hide herself behind it where you can only see her eyes peering from above the plushie's santa hat. She looked like a harmless kitten which amused him greatly and she instantly ran in the direction of her dormitory.

"See you tomorrow!"

Eolas said as she was leaving, but she stopped upon hearing it and turned around briefly to respond.

"You better be up early tomorrow, If I can manage to sneak away from Kuroko. I'll be cooking breakfast at yours!"

Eolas was still waving in response and she carried on heading into the direction of her dormitory. It took her to leave his sight, before what she said had resounded in his mind.

"Wait what did she say? It's not like I expected anything from that present."

He hadn't realised it yet, but she had made that decision upon seeing the state of his kitchen and seeing what he's been eating recently. It was mostly down to ensuring he eat properly down to his heart problems. But he didn't waste a lot of time thinking about it, this is because the likely hood of escaping a teleporter was low. He had found that the hard way with Sarah and in her case it would be Kuroko. He would just have to wait and see tomorrow.

...

...

...

**13th December, England, 12:00am**

It was midnight and the sound of a grandfather clock echoed throughout the empty halls of the Stuart Manor. Around this time only the head of the family was up in his study, the servants were ordered away for the night and there was no guard to speak off. This was because the head of the manor wasn't such an easy target, he was an incredible magician who had guided the family to greater power throughout his life. It was he who had secured his daughter's role within the English church. And he was considered one of the most political powerful individuals in the country.

The father of both Laura and Eolas Stuart. Who had disowned his only son for reasons unknown, well except for one person. That was his daughter and she was about to visit her father upon her own request. You see for both of them, it was inevitable a certain conversation was going to arise between them. And upon her entering her father's study, there was no formal greeting or any normal behaviour that you expect between a father and daughter. It was solely business between them.

"So what are you going to do about him?"

Her father's voice sounded calm and fragile. Which echoed his appearance, he didn't look strong and his head was completely bold. It was like somebody had drained the life from him. It was not something you expect of a person who not needed any guards.

"Father, who may I ask you talking about?"

Laura asked and obvious question, but she had intended to poke the old lion.

"That boy who had the nerve to use our family name."

He had chucked a newspaper to the side on his desk, so Laura can see it from her view. It was dated roughly a month ago and it was on a page about an incident in Academy city. It had claimed a level five esper had stopped a major terrorist attack was called Eolas Stuart. The reason why he wasn't happy about it, because a promise was made for him never to use the family name. They didn't realise what it means, for a family member like theres to become an esper. Despite the one who sent him to Academy city in the first place, it was blasphemous to do such a thing within his family. And Laura seemed angry, but it wasn't exactly because her brother was revealed to be an esper. Honestly she didn't care about that entire thing. She saw it as an chance for her family to have influence on both sides of the coin. But as she started to walk closer to her father, who was still looking away from her while doing something on his desk. She quickly changed her angry glare into a smile.

"The nerve to use our family name? But isn't he still family?"

She walked closer until she standing just over her father's shoulder. He was doing what he normally do at this hour and that was sending letters to various places across the country. In fact this was just simply orders for people under his influence.

"...An... outcast doesn't have the right to use our name."

That was simply his answer, it sounded rather cold to somebody of his own flesh and blood. But that wasn't what Laura had noticed. She had easily picked on the slight hesitation in his words. So she learned over until she was on the same level as him.

"But father if you didn't want him to use her name. Then why did you keep him alive all those years ago?..."

What she said next, sounded rather terrifying compared to her normal light hearted tone and she had a cruel expression. But her father wasn't even bothering too look at his daughter.

"And don't tell me because you was respecting Mother's last wishes. I know very well that she is alive and well in Academy city."

Upon hearing this her father finally stopped writing. But he didn't say anything, but had a rather annoyed expression.

"You old fool. You thought I wouldn't find out what you and Mother hidden inside him. Took me a while but I understand your intentions of him becoming an esper. I cannot allow that to happen."

Suddenly Laura placed her hand around her father's mouth and out of no pieced a dagger into the back of the chair and into her father's back.

"My brother is not some tool for you... too manipulate"

* * *

At the same moment Laura had stabbed her father in the back. Eolas in Academy city who was walking home had stumbled forward, the exact moment she committed the deed. Suddenly it had felt like somebody had hit with a bus. It was hard for him to make sense for it.

He had actually wondered if it was his heart, that he was having some sort of an attack? But feeling his pulse quickly, it didn't feel abnormal. In fact it felt rather normal. After regaining his composure he briefly took a look around. There was no one in sight and so it couldn't be anybody who attacked him with some kind of ability. He didn't feel mentally hurt and he was sure that his mind was protected from mental attacks. Thanks to the Misaka network and Misaki's own ability.

He was honestly confused and the pain from what he had felt just quickly faded. Suddenly it was like nothing had actually happened and there was no actual evidence to back up what he had just felt. He had wondered was his mind playing tricks on him, was it just pain he had felt in the past and his body decided to remember it? He honestly still didn't know.

But this occurrence had made him felt rather unnerving. Turning around to the direction he was walking from, Eolas could see the top of the Windowless building. This is because he suddenly felt like a sheep walking into a lion's den. He doesn't really recall that well, but it was the same feeling he had felt the last time he had saw his father. So he just naturally associated the feeling to what he sees as the most dangerous figure in the city.

"Things have been rather too quiet... I shouldn't really complain... It's nearly Christmas so maybe hes in a generous mood."

Oddly Eolas managed to shake off that feeling and continued heading home. But it wasn't like he had forgotten about what he had felt. Despite not showing it, he was still trying to figure out what happened on his way home.

* * *

Back in the study of the Stuart mansion. There she stood right next to the chair her father was sitting in, blood was staining the back of the chair and the floor. The dagger had fallen out from where Laura had struck. And the man she called father was no longer moving. She didn't care about making a mess, it wasn't like anybody was around. She was just wiping the hand she had covered her father's mouth with.

She no longer had a cruel expression but a disappointed one. She then used the phone in the same study, it didn't take long for the person she was ringing to pick up.

"Hey... could you send somebody over... it seem somebody had murdered my father."

She had said it in a rather sad and innocent sounding voice. But what she said next was in her normal tone.

"Oh and can you send a message to Stiyl about seeing me in the morning... Just tell him that it's about Index, that would get his blood boiling."

* * *

**Author Notes**: Shorter but rather important chapter. And I'm not talking about my horrible attempt at Romance XD Anyway I hope you enjoy and I have a feeling I need to read up on romance stories.


	3. The Past still haunts them

**Chapter 3** - The Past still haunts them

**December 13th, 6:48am**

Eolas had went to sleep the moment he got home, there was no other reason to stay up. He didn't even want to think about his never ending pile of homework. He's pretty sure somebody is playing a trick on him, unless there was literally so much homework given out a certain middle school. He may need to check on that tomorrow or later today, he had fallen sleep nearly half an hour after midnight.

And once again...

Eolas had that nightmare...

It continued like it had before, finding himself among the rubble within the heart of London. With fires rising high as far the human eye can see. And that same phone call, you'll think one would get use to the same nightmare. But you don't exactly perceive that while you having the nightmare. You naturally responded to what you see around you. For Eolas it felt like he had seen this nightmare the first time, every time.

But It must of repeated many times throughout the night, each time he doesn't remember and when he finally awaken it will always be at that certain point.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

He doesn't realise it, but Eolas had shouted out loud and it took him a moment to realise that he was no longer dreaming. He was within his bedroom, sitting up in his bed. He was breathing very heavily and was acting like he had experienced something terrifying. Without any chance to think on the matter a pain struck his chest. It wasn't a continuing pain, it was just a reminder of his condition. He doesn't really understand it, but his powers must be active while sleeping. More so ever since he started to have those nightmares. So normally he had been ordered by a certain doctor to take his medicine every morning. Reaching out towards his medicine, he had noticed it moved away from him.

"Tsh"

It was his natural telekinetic field that he emits. Normally he has it under-control and he can determined the strength of it at will. This was nothing abnormal in his situation, this always happens as he kind of forgets about it in the morning. Honestly it has lead to some amusing situations. He had remember a time where the entire bed sheet was floating because of it. Not also forgetting a very embarrassing situation, when his clothes were actually ripped because of it. But that memory may no longer be the most embarrassing...

As Eolas manges to take his medicine, there was suddenly a knock at his bedroom door.

_'An intruder? Who would actually dare break into my apartment? Christ I don't think even most of the other level fives would even try it.'_

Eolas got out of his bed, but didn't actually go to the door. Like it was natural for somebody to knock on his bedroom door. He uses his telekinetic power to open the curtains, to let in some light and responded.

"Come in!"

And whoever it was knocking on the door, just did that... It felt like it had opened slowly, the light of the front room started to brighten his dim bedroom and there she stood. In her Tokidawi winter uniform. Mikoto Misaka was the person knocking on his door... No words past between them in that moment and that was because of what Eolas was wearing.

He was wearing short grey shorts and a very childish duck t-shirt. Some reason though, she didn't look embarrassed seeing him in that state. But Eolas become red as a cherry in sudden embarrassment, literally used his telekinesis to move his maxtrix off his bed and lodged it in front of him. This was to hide him from Mikoto's view, but he literally trashed his room in the process.

"Isn't that overreacting?"

"WHY DO YOU SOUND SO CALM AND WHY ARE YOU HERE!"

Mikoto look rather amused, she expected to see him in that state considering its his home. But she honestly didn't expect him to react so badly. It was like he had forgotten completely about she had said last night.

_..._

_"You better be up early tomorrow, If I can manage to sneak away from Kuroko. I'll be cooking breakfast at yours!"_

_..._

But after the strange occurrence he experienced on his way home and his rough sleeping. What she said wasn't a priority on his mind. This is probably because he didn't expect her to get away from Kuroko. But it was mostly because of his nightmares that was clouding his mind recently. He doesn't really understand why he keep experiencing the same one. And they only started recently, it's not like this had happened before in the past. To his knowledge he never had such nightmares before he had returned to Academy city. Even when he was under his influence. He never had dreams of this nature. That was probably because he was causing the destruction personally back then. Is something deep in his subconscious trying to tell him something? That he is going to cause the same misery as he did before? If he remember what happened a month ago, then the thought was far-fetched. He constantly tells himself that he has a grip over his powers. But when he ascends to that level, single flicker in his emotions can change everything.

When his health is concerned there was a reason not to push himself. He made a promise not to ascend to that level of power, unless there was no other choice. But it's not like he ever want to use his full powers in the first place. Because of what he can do if he loses control. The last time he was just lucky it didn't get out of hand.

"Eolas? Are you OK?..."

Mikoto had noticed that he went suddenly quiet. He was still hiding behind the maxtrix, because he was embarrassed to be seen in his PJs. She would of just waited until he had woken up on his own, but the reason she had knocked was pretty clear...

...

_"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"_

_..._

She had heard what he had shouted not too long ago. It sounded like he was so angry when he shouted that. Normally she would ask him straight what's the matter, but she felt like she heard something she shouldn't. So she was honestly surprised to hear him answer as he is going too.

"I'm fine... just had a bad dream..."

She didn't know what to say next, brief moment of silence fell between and it was Mikoto who once again broke the silence.

"Alright, well get dressed or something. You don't want to miss your breakfast..."

She was about to close the door after speaking but...

"Mikoto..."

Eolas speaking up and using her first name in that way. Had made her stop closing his bedroom door, she still couldn't see him as he was still hiding behind his maxtrix. But the fact he actually say her first name without mistakenly saying Miko-chan was a surprise. There must be something wrong, Eolas was clearly acting different. She slowly stepped back into the room out of worry, only to hear some chuckling. Then he suddenly spoke up and it became very clear that he was laughing.

"I made you blush!"

He was acting immature and this instantly made her angry. Because she was actually worried about him and he suddenly acted like this out of now where. So this time so actually walked right in and stood right next to the maxtrix. Thankfully it was on the side, so she could see over and see Eolas chuckling with a mirror floating in front of him. So that is how he was able to see her blushing. He didn't notice until her walk closer until it was too late. He slowly stopped chuckling when he saw Mikoto standing right above him, with both of her hands closely together generating electricity. She definitely let him have it.

If you was looking at this through Eolas' bedroom window, all you can see it a large blue light suddenly surging and hear them both. Mikoto was clearly angry and Eolas was pleading for calm.

"IDIOT!"

It wasn't long until it was all over and Mikoto stormed out of his room.

"Hurry up and get dressed!"

Leaving a electrocuted Eolas on his bedroom floor, realising trying to lighten the mood was clearly the wrong idea. At least she was acting her normal self then. He continued to lay there and again briefly thinking about his nightmare. He knew it was normal to have nightmares here and there. But not the same one and not every time he falls asleep. He doesn't really know why, but he felt looking at his left hand and slowly that very familiar sphere of light appeared. It look normal as every other time he had summoned it.

"Oh well! Better get going!"

He instantly lept onto his feet and as he did the room started to tidy itself. Everything was easily put back together and in order. Thanks to his telekinetic power he only had to think about it and it would happen. It does require some sense of focus, but he was use to it that it sometimes become second nature. Eolas had amusingly thought to himself that he would be the greatest cleaner in existence. He should actually think about it as a serious career choice.

Well if he ever gets to that point.

...

...

...

**7:28am**

Eolas had a quick wash and had gotten changed into his school winter uniform. He hasn't been back to school for that long, so he still wasn't use to wearing this thing again. Actually he wasn't sure if he was or not. It's been a month but he still felt like it was two years ago sometimes. Regardless it was the same type of uniform he had two years ago. They seriously didn't change anything, after so long because it was still the same dreary smart black uniform with a white trim.

He never actually like the damned thing. And he was actually complaining about it to himself on the sofa, while Mikoto was actually finishing making breakfast.

"Little help?"

She asked which was a simple request, she begun walking after to the sofa herself and only a quick glance towards the kitchen. Eolas sighted the food which was laid out on the side, without much effort he used his telekinetic power to bring them over to the coffee table.

"You know its rather amusing that I'm abusing my power in this way."

Eolas said jokingly, but Mikoto was still a little miffed about earlier.

"Don't you think thats the least worrying thing you done with your powers..."

What a thing to remind him about, but Eolas realised that he shouldn't manipulate her feelings back then. So he had actually deserved that, so he admitted to himself that it was his fault. Taking a deep breath Eolas went to apologise. He even decided to use her first name to make her happy.

"Mikoto. Look I'm very sorry, I shouldn't manipulate you like that for my own amusement."

The food had finally reached the coffee table and while he was distracted by what he saw being made. He hadn't noticed that she briefly smiled in response, it was like she knew he was going to apologise. It was typical behaviour on Eolas apart, if it was his fault or not he always ends up apologising. And that could actually be considered a flaw, to apologise even though it may not be his fault. But it's the fact he just wants to ease the tension is what she admires. But this wouldn't actually last long.

"Curry? People have this for bre..."

He was instantly interrupted by Mikoto who answered before he can finish.

"It was the only thing I could make with what you had."

Eolas was at first content with that answer, but knowing the annoyed look from her expression he knew that something more to it. He had looked briefly around noticing some shopping bags. The smell of the curry was strong, but if you try to ignore it there is a hint of something being burnt. It was not the actual curry itself, it look like a pretty normal. Eolas had wondered if she brought some of her own ingredients, but the attempt didn't actually go so well and she ending up burning it? Thinking about it she was never the greatest at household chores and that included cooking. She never admits it personally but her mother always teased her about that fact and slowly but surely Eolas remembered the time he actually tried Miko-chan's cooking in the past. Which made him feel frightened about his taste bugs for a moment.

But despite the fact the food in front of him could be life threatening, he had no reason not to eat it. Obviously she went out of her way to help him by making breakfast. Though he wouldn't consider curry breakfast, at least it would be fulling. And going back to school on a full stomach would actually be a good thing. Considering today's events would be very eventful, so he took a deep breath which was amusingly noticed by Mikoto and started eating the curry.

It tasted...

"Good... This is actually good."

Upon realising this shocking revelation that Mikoto's cooking wasn't that bad. But this whole situation begs the question. Why is she actually here and doing all of this? Eolas still doesn't understand her reasoning. But he starts to understand when she talks about the present she received from last night.

"By the way, didn't really say it last night. But thank you."

Eolas naturally responded without thinking that much.

"There was no need to say it. Your smile was enough."

She didn't expect that sort of answer and her reaction was showing that clearly. But despite it she still managed to continue.

"C... Could I asked to leave it here?"

He was sort of confused by her question and wondered if there was her way of returning it?

"For what reason?"

"Well you know what Kuroko is like? It was hard enough coming here without her knowing, but also hiding that throughout the night was a challenge."

Eolas couldn't but help to agree, Kuroko doesn't mean harm but she does tease Mikoto about her childish like of certain items. Also he didn't actually think what may of happened if she find out, that he had given Mikoto a Gekota toy. She probably accuse him of evil intentions, which honestly buying it was a spur of the moment. But he had no problem of her leaving it here.

"I understand. I don't mind you leaving it here Mikoto. But you don't need to create a reason to come here, the laptop wasn't the only reason why I gave you that key."

His comment once again surprised her and she couldn't help but ask the reason.

"So... what is the other reason?"

"Well basically my activities often cause me to lose my key. So I thought leaving the spare with somebody I trust would help."

This was instantly met with a punch in the kidney from Mikoto. Obviously she was expecting a totally different answer...

"Idiot."

Surprisingly Eolas recovered from that blow rather quickly and the first thing he did was just pat her on the head. Which once again surprised her and the reason for his action was going to be explained.

"I don't think I'm very good in social interactions or basically dealing with problems. Most of the time and I can't help it. I always think of using force or manipulation to get what I want. Exactly what I been brought up to do. So most of the time I try and guess how to react correctly to situations. Specially situations like right... now..."

Mikoto knew what he was trying to say and she couldn't help but punch him once again with a Kidney shot.

"NO THAT'S NOT MY INTENTION. Idiot. You already gave me the reason to come here. Somebody needs to make sure you're eating properly. It's not like you're in perfect health you know. It's the least I can do for what had happened."

She looked down from what she had said. Eolas knew the reason why, it was an unsolved feeling she had from last month's events.

"Miko...to... Like I told you before what happened was never your fault. With the sisters and myself, it was all manipulated by certain people in the shadows. Even if you didn't give them access to your DNA map. They would of taken it by another method... Mikoto take it from me, meeting you all those years ago had saved me from a far worse fate. So there is no reason to feel down about one mistake. So you given them access to your DNA map, when I'm concerned it only sped up the inevitable. If you did or not the events two years ago would of happened regardless and Michael was born from my own mistakes. Not yours."

Though she still felt down from past events, she was grateful at Eolas' attempt to comfort her on the topic.

"Thank you..."

She says with a brief smile.

...

...

...

**8:40am**

It hasn't been long since both Mikoto and Eolas left the apartment. Both went their separate ways, because of a certain teleporter of Judgement. And it would be somewhat bad if she was caught leaving a guys apartment in the morning. On a normal day it would be possible to take the risk, but today for both their schools a very familiar event was occurring. It's been a week since Eolas' return to school and amusingly enough he was back in the same class with the same students from two years ago. Misaki had given back a lot of people at a certain middle school their memories of Eolas. So a lot of explanation had to be given for his absence, the main excuse was really he intended a private research project. Which had explained in their minds his recent accent to Level Five.

The confusion of what rank level five he was still going around. Some know him as the sixth while some consider him the eight. But it really wasn't important to his class mates at a certain middle school. However something was very important for them and the entire middle school. Regaining their pride in their competition with Tokiwadai. Thanks to their pressure they had gotten their own school authorities to push for that sports competition between their schools.

All for one single reason.

The all boys school of a certain middle school want to regain their pride with their recent edition of a level five. Despite knowing they were all counting on him, Eolas was actually rather excited about the competition. Probably because this time he doesn't have to hide a single thing about his powers. He was also willing to bring pride back to his school. That is because his school lost the last time he was here and from what he learned had lost since then. So he was more then happy to take on this challenge, so much he headed straight to school to prepare...

Mikoto was heading towards Tokidawi when she experiences a very familiar situation. It was the boy with spiky hair and he was in a hurry somewhere. So much that he accidentally brushed against without stopping. It took an electrifying reaction to stop him running so she could find out what is going on...

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

She had asked the obvious question.

"Some sort of metal man. You good with those kind of people aren't you?"

"Huh? I can control metal if that's what you mean?"

Touma instantly grabbed onto her left arm with his right hand and pulled her along with him.

"Huh, what is going on! Where are we going?"

"Just follow me I need your help!"

Mikoto was going to get the story on their way there. But it was very simply and often recurring in Touma's case. Index had been taken by a metal clad man. Both of them didn't realise it, but it was a very real occurrence of the past haunting the present.

...

...

...

**9:52**

"You're an English knight aren't you?"

A certain Nun had said to her capturer. The reason for her to act this friendly was because the Knight hasn't really done anything to harm Index. The knight only brought her here and actually asked her to stay until the one it thinks it's looking for comes. They were in some abandoned warehouse in Academy city. It was rather empty other then a few boxes here and there. The knight was sitting on one of them and Index was looking at the knight standing right next to it. She had nothing to fear so it wasn't stupid of her to act so curious.

The knight itself was covered in armour from head to toe and obviously a very large individual. It didn't look like the modern English knights, the armour was very old in style, plain but from the looks of it very practical. The knight had a great sword on the back, but it was in it's Scabbard so Index couldn't see it. But she couldn't but feel she has seen that style of hilt before. There was obvious powerful magic resonating from the sword and knight. But her attention on his sword was broken when the Knight actually spoke up.

"English?... I don't think so... No..."

The knight had a deep voice, but he sound rather old. In fact there was a majestic vibe, that this knight was more then just a knight. Was he a noble? Index was rather confused, she was defiantly getting the vibe that this knight was from England. Despite it's rather different armour, however the knight had said it wasn't English. Though it did sound rather confused itself.

"Then why're you here? Why did you take me?"

Very important questions and the knight was willing to answer. Again showing it had not hostle attentions towards Index.

"I'm here to take back what was stolen from my Lord. Shattered in pieces, but still powerful in their own right. I can sense one of them is within this city and it must be the one who looks after something as important as you."

The knight was searching for something stolen from it's Lord. And despite the access to the largest amount of information one human can have in the world. She couldn't think of anything that fits the story. And the knight seems to know about Index and noticed what she was trying to do.

"You just tried to look up my story? Not even in your library will you find a book that has been wiped from this reality."

Index wasn't sure herself and tried to think on what the knight had said. But at the same time the knight rose from where he was sitting.

"Your guardian is here."

The knight was right as Touma had ran through the open door to the abandoned warehouse and he had Mikoto Misaka along with him.

"Touma and that girl?"

Touma was looking at Index with worry, but he had noticed she looked unharmed and not even restrained. Seeing that and understanding the situation, Touma couldn't help to feel that the figure in front of him never actually meant harm.

"A knight? Why is there a Knight?"

Mikoto said who was the most confused one out of them all. It was the first time for her to see something dressed up as a knight. She has heard stories about such groups, when Eolas tried to explain to her about magic. But she wasn't really sure to believe it as it never made sense. Touma was about to asked the knight a question. But he was stopped before he even started as the knight drew his giant sword. Which was met by rather shocked Index who instantly can recognised the sword now.

But she couldn't say anything, because the knight had spoken first. Who had pointed his sword towards Touma and Mikoto.

"I'm sorry, but I took young Index here so our fight will not harm innocents. You seem to only to go places whenever she is brought too."

Touma was confused and responded to get some clarity.

"Why do we need to figh..."

The knight interrupted in a burst of rage...

"THAT CURSED POWER! I can see it with my own eyes, hiding within your right arm! The Same power of the THIEF WHO ENSURED MY LORDS DOWNFALL! I have done my Lord great harm in my true life and those sins have cursed me to wander endlessly because of it. I've accepted my fate, but it doesn't mean I can't fulfil one final act for my Lord! To return the object that he had lost..."

The Knight was holding his giant sword with one arm, showing just an example of it's physical strength. But with his free hand, the knight grab it's helmet and threw it off to show the what was hiding within. What was seen wasn't the face of an English noble. But the face that was wore from the passing of time, it wasn't like he was undead looking. But like the life was drain from his very skin. But despite his appearance, this knight wasn't weak at all. The knight spoke up after his helmet touched the ground.

"On my cursed blade... Arondight! I Sir Lancelot... Will fight for the right to bring back **Avalon** to the resting place of my Lord!"

The knight had declared in all fury and instantly started to charge towards Touma with the intention to kill. Even though he had no wish to fight the Knight, he wasn't about to be given any choice.

* * *

**Author notes**: The Past still haunts many characters and that maybe down to trying to bury the past with the passage of time. If this ancient knight of Camelot knew of all people how that truly feels. I always enjoyed Arthurian legends and always wanted to craft my own story involving it. And I thought from the beginning why not for this fanfiction? Because there doesn't seem to be any Arthurian influence within this universe so it's ripe for the picking I thought.

From my horrible attempt at Eolas and Mikoto's awkward relationship to the sad tale of a knight. This event only echoes one horrible fact, you can run away all you like but the past will come knocking.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and watch out for the next one.

**Chapter 4 - **The Knight and the Thief


	4. The Knight and the Thief

**Chapter 4** - The Knight and the Thief

**10:10am, St. George's Cathedral, England. **

A lot has happened in England since the death of the head of the Stuart family. Despite not being publicly famous, they only known to the common folk due to a member being the Archbishop of the Church of England. But the family was far more powerful then just that in the country. The truth of the matter is that Laura and Eolas' father had a hand in all corners of life in England. To further elaborate the influence of the family, they have helped shaped the country for many, many generations even during many different Monarch family lines. There was a very old rumour that they even tried to establish themselves as the Royal family, but that ambition supposedly ended with Charles Stuart I being beheaded. But that just a rumour, the present Stuart family has denied claims of being relation to that failed Monarch. So in a way, the entire country was some how effected, when a death occurs in the Stuart family. Many under the scenes knows it due to the inevitable shift of power within England. But for a certain mage who mastered the power of fire. He hadn't cared that one had lost her father, he was more concerned about the danger to Index.

This was so obvious by the fact, he had barged into the Stuart household just two hours after given the message. Only to find out that the danger wasn't fully the truth, while there was a possible backlash to that certain Nun. What was being unleashed after the death of Laura's father was more of a danger to Kamijou Touma. This was because he shared the same power of the ancestor who stolen Avalon. So there was interest within Necessarius to protect the boy from the inevitable consequence of the recent death. But they weren't the only orders, Stiyl Magnus, Kanzaki Kaori and many Necessarius agents were ordered to go and convince Kamijou Touma, Index and Eolas Stuart to come to England. Laura Stuart had made it clear that who ever had killed her father, would inevitable come after them. And despite the importance of the first two, she personally desired her brother to return for person reasons. Also because members of the Stuart family wants him to be recalled, it was only their father that had exiled him. The rest of the family wouldn't mind the return of Eolas Stuart to the family branch.

Despite the reason, it was important that all three were brought to England. Even if they had to force them...

With orders in mind, Stiyl Magnus and Kanzaki Kaori along with cooperation with Academy city had caught a private plane early hours in the morning. Roughly three hours after Laura killed her father. She was actually surprised how fast things were moving and she was thankful for it. Because despite her confidence in certain matters, this entire deal with taking the life of her father was a massive gamble. With that in mind and as hours past, Laura finds herself alone in St. George's Cathedral but she was deep in conversation with Aleister who had offered apologies over the death of her father. They were talking through a laptop and despite even after the act, not even the certain God of Academy city has no clue that she had killed her father. She had thought from how he is acting in the conversation, that he underestimates her and she knew that he will pay for it sometime in the future. Because despite knowing that her Mother was in Academy city, he hasn't revealed it despite her father's death. She knew her parents were up to something with Aleister, but she doesn't know the full scope of it. Despite everything, she was willing to explain the situation to Aleister who feigns ignorance of the impact of her father's death. Though she personally things he knows it all from her mother, but she was willing to play along.

"Sir Lancelot one of the knights of the round table. Serving the legendary King Arthurian of Camelot. Sound's like a fairy tale no matter how you slice it. But as you found out today, it's more then just a fairy tale. Don't get me wrong, when it comes to the duties of this family household... ...We would like nothing more then to scrub the memories of that past... It sounds strange I know, why should we want to destroy one of the greatest legends of this country's history. Because it's nothing more then just history, to embrace that part of history is accepting the rule of magic. So in the name of ending the rule of magic in this country, Camelot had to fall and King Arthur had to be killed. The intentions of a tolerant kingdom accepting magic was unacceptable for the ancestors of my family. So that's why this family stole Avalon from the legendary king and contributed to his inevitable death."

Laura explains what she knows about her family's involvement in the Arthurian legend. Revealing the lengthy history of this family's attempt to curb the influence of magic in the country. Which only begs the question, how long has the Stuart family being influencing the events of the country as a whole? Despite the obvious questions about this family, Aleister was more interested about the reported knight which had gone after Index and Kamijou Touma. He also only recently learned that Mikoto Misaka was dragged into it by Kamijou. He was more determined to know after one more of his precious pieces could be threatened. Though just like Laura hasn't revealed her part in her father's death, he wasn't going to revel while he was determined to know. Despite being allies, this was all but a political conversation for both of them.

"So when did that knight come into it?"

Laura was happy to try and explain once again. But she mentions that not even she knows the entire truth, but only what shes been told herself.

"Many years after the collapse of Camelot, that knight attempted to redeem himself for his part to play in his Lord's death. He even attempted to become a priest and live his life in repentance. But that knight couldn't stay away due to his love for the wife of the King. Allowing his temptations to motivate his actions, Lancelot broke the vows of the priesthood and the head priest at the time cursed the knight as a result. Not caring for what he had inflicted on himself, because of the chance to see the women he loved. Guinevere. But upon arriving where the former Queen lived, he was told that she had died under mysterious causes. It was then he had realised it was the doing of the head priest who cursed him. The knight who allowed his temptation to rule his judgement had not only lead to the downfall of a kingdom, but also the death of the women he had loved. Upon taking the body of the former Queen to be buried with his former lord. Lancelot fell in deep regret and sorrow. It's believed he had wandered the land of his former country until he had died. But the truth is that his regret and sorrow had further corrupted the knight's soul because of the curse. Now determined to do one last thing for his former Lord, Lancelot was determined to return the stolen artefact. That's when my family first interacted with the knight. Thanks to the interference of a certain old and crazy magician. Lancelot managed to find my ancestor who had stolen the artefact and even overpowered many younger knights in the process. But the knight would fail at the last hurdle as the artefact had only pushed the odds in my ancestor's favour. Seeing this the same certain crazy magician smashed Avalon into four pieces, only because in that magician words only a chosen individual is worthy to use Avalon. ... Despite having the same power as Imagine breaker, my ancestor had to retreat from the power of the knight and that crazy magician. At least he managed to secure one of the four pieces at that time, which remains with the family even to this day."

"Then why did the death of your father bring the knight back?"

That was the important question, because despite closely working with Laura and Eolas' father. He didn't know about this entire thing and was very surprised about the knight's interference in Academy city. The event has happened so fast. Laura was about to revel the connection of Lancelot to her father's death.

"I told you about the curse which Lancelot had suffered. Since the shattering of Avalon, the curse of Lancelot has evolved and the knight's desire to return Avalon to his Lord has put him in a purgatory state. Between life and death. Not only that, the knight has been seen since that day attacking future holders of Imagine breaker and trying to track all the pieces of Avalon. My family has been under attack from this seemly powerful immortal knight since then. Despite how powerful this family had gotten, it's very hard to fight of a knight like Lancelot from an era where magic was at it's zenith. Specially considering the abilities of the sword he wields could bring great devastation. If you only allow his rage reach it's peak. My father who had lost his own mother to Lancelot's attack, had been inspired to create a spell powerful enough to trap the immortal knight into a corporal state. Making Lancelot unable to interact with this world and only can be seen as a Ghost by members who share our blood. The reason why he had emerged after my father's death, because he was bound by spirit to my father's own spirit. And his death had broken that chain, allowing him to freely interact with the world once again. So honestly I'm not surprised that he had emerged in Academy city, he is drawn by the usage of the Imagine Breaker. Considering all the trouble we both put that boy in."

"Then how do you suggest we stop the knight? I can imagine you father teaching you the same spell."

Aleister once again asked a good question.

"He did explain it to me and even my brother. The boy who you and my father seems to be toying with these many years. Despite being disowned by him, our father didn't fail to teach us both about Lancelot before we even could walk. Though if I remember correctly Eolas thought it was our father's imaginary friend. But not even he should forget what we learned. But I don't think he remembers how to exactly bind Lancelot. It should be safe even for him, it doesn't require magic because the spell is bounded to lancelot's soul until the last member of the Stuart family dies. All he needs to do is to make two crosses on both his chest and Lancelot with his own blood. The magic is already in the blood. When that happens then Lancelot will once again be bound into a corporal state..."

That was it, Laura had explained what she known about the Knight Lancelot. Though she had hidden some truths about the situation, she was hoping that Lancelot will be dealt with just as much as Aleister. To her and everything in the Stuart family, he is just a curse a reminder of what they done in the past. It was something they happily live with until they find a way to permanently deal with that knight. But there was something that had to be addressed.

"You do understand the reasons why I require those three to come here? Because that knight isn't the only thing which is a consequence of my fathers death. As you can imagine family politics is just as dangerous as actual politics. I cannot guarantee the continuation of out cooperation and the protection of those three from those seeking to gain my father's influence. They would be more protected under my personal care."

While there was some truths in the family politics, it wasn't that serious of a problem which required those three coming to England. This was a big bluff on Laura's part, but she knew that a piece of Avalon was in Academy city. Which was hidden within her brother to her knowledge, so she intends to bring that piece back where it rightfully belongs. Yet she knew that her father intended for it to be used along side the Imperator project, which just makes her fearful of Aleister personally. Because after all he was one of the main creators of that project, with Avalon being an important piece. He should of know about it from the beginning. This basically confirms in Laura's mind that his pretending to feign ignorance gave her a reason not to trust him. She feels that he intends to sell out the Stuart family and she's going to prepare for that situation.

In the end of the day, this entire situation she has put her family in. Was an entire gamble... She was actually hoping that her brother has caught on Lancelot's presence and would soon deal with him. But she didn't know it yet, not only does he have no clue of the knight's presence but she doesn't even have the best confidence that he knew how to deal with Lancelot. Considering he was taught about it at such a young age and he thought Lancelot was just an imaginary friend... Again this was a gamble...

...

...

...

**10:03am, A Certain Middle School, Academy City**

Normally Eolas has been well informed about situations incurring in Academy city. Hes spent a good amount of time in the past month, building up contacts and allies in the underworld. This influence was easily shown when he was informed about people from outside the city, going after Index and Touma in the last month. Though he never always interfered directly he has given information to help. Because there was a very forgettable fact about Eolas' past, he was brought up and trained for the purpose of killing magicians and subduing the magic side. That was a very true fact as you can ask him, Imperator project involved the annihilation of a way of life which he described. But... Eolas was clearly excited about today's events and when his mind is set on somethings its hard to change it. He had instantly went to his school to help prepare for today's sport events.

He always enjoyed a challenge and his school which consist of all boys had always lost against the all girls school of Tokiwadai. Both had powerful espers in their own right, but sadly for a Certain Middle School. Tokiwadai had a larger number of level 4 espers and even two level fives for over two years. Though Certain Middle school did have more students overall and their skill despite having an overall lower level was matched with Tokiwadai. They can just be as creative with their powers as the girls of Tokiwdai. So the only clear advantage they had was the more powerful espers and two level fives. Shokuhou Misaki known as Mental Out, the 5th ranked level five and the Queen of Tokiwadai. There was also Mikoto Misaka known as the Railgun, the 3rd rank level five and is honoured as the Ace of Tokiwdai. Though Misaki rarely takes part in these sports events, she and Mikoto were mainly the sole reason for Tokiwdai's victories in the past two years.

But this time was obviously different. A certain middle school now had the recently infamous Eolas Stuart, lot of his recent reputation was down to the videos of last month's fight with Michael being made public on the internet. Also the fact Aleister had manipulated the media to give him credit, Eolas didn't know it but it was to stem the rising tensions before the magic and science side. This was because he was a wild card which could cause trouble for anybody who makes the first move. But the students of both schools didn't know that fact either, to them he was basically as a typical level five. Who is able to pull off credible feats like the other level fives.

But it was more then that, a lot of the students in his current years from both schools knew Eolas from two years ago. They lost their memories when he left due to Misaki, but recently they had returned when she influenced his returned to that school. This entire event was pushed because of his return by the boys in his years, they had pressured their teachers to organised the event. And because of his own competitive nature, Eolas had asked a favour of Misaki to help push the event forward. This was basically Eolas being him normal self when it comes to competition and he knew full well that Mikoto Misaka was going to be competitive about it. So along with his recent reputation, also the rep he had from two years ago as a joker and trouble maker. There was a sudden wave of negativity directed at Eolas from the Tokiwadai students, but that wasn't really the problem. As he found out when the girls arrived at his school for the events. You see they can throw the entire student body at him, but something about a very angry teleporter from Judgement frightens him. You see Kuroko was giving him the evil vibes and was even threating lethal punishment when others weren't looking.

The obvious reason for this as she knew Mikoto went to see him this morning and she hasn't been seen since. But he doesn't know that just yet and was wondering himself why she seemed so angry. Why the girls had taken the field, the boys were getting ready and like normal Eolas takes his time. Thats what most of the girls think, because he gained his joker and trouble making reputation from these events. But the reason is he was trying not to be brutally attacked by Kuroko and finally they have met face to face.

"What have you done with Onee-Sama?"

Kuroko asked suddenly after minutes of intense staring.

"What do you mean, it's not like I have seen her today."

Eolas was putting up a very good poker face. Which threw Kuroko off a bit, because of it. What did she expect from him, the stuff he had done in the past you would need a good poker face. Of course this didn't actually fool Kuroko at all, because you see the how and what Mikoto did to get away from her this morning wasn't what he expected. Kuroko begun to explain that Mikoto Misaka had simply told her the truth. She didn't trick or try to hide the fact, though she didn't know about his present to Mikoto Misaka. She basically told Kuroko about her health concerns and she was making sure that he was eating properly. Eolas could imagine what transpired after she was told that. But he doesn't have to imagine what the consequence was for him, because she looked rather threatening and she could launch those metal things into his body.

"She hasn't been since this morning when she left for your apartment. So what sick perverted thing have you done with my ONEE-SAMA!"

It took Eolas to realise for a moment, but he suddenly snapped into reality from the fear of Kuroko to what she had said.

"Wait what? She hasn't been seen?"

He wasn't really thinking about it, but his mind returned to that moment in his nightmare when Aleister was on the other side of the phone using his Mikoto's number. It can't be anything...

"Why're you worry, we both knew she has wandered about without anybody knowing for hours before. And you know more then anybody else, shes the Tokiwadai ace, the third ranked Level five. The RailGun. She can look after herself."

This statement was very rich coming from Eolas, who once said even if Mikoto can defeat a dangerous enemy and he couldn't. He still step forward first to protect her life. This fact had made him feel down and he tried to focus on the reality of the situation. There wasn't really anything to be worried about, though Mikoto did tell Eolas she would be going School. And according to Kuroko she didn't even go to school. Was she delayed somehow? ... He then remember a potential way to find her and that is using the Misaka network...

"I'll find out where she ran too... Cover for me... Just say I broke the law or something... They probably believe you..."

Not a fact he should be confident in but it probably work considering his reputation. And he didn't give Kuroko a chance to respond, she can teleport but not even she would teleport into the boy's bathroom which Eolas quickly ran into.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING!"

He can hear her angry response, but he push that aside for now. Upon entering the toilets, there was one of the students at his school...

"Good morning Stuart-Senpai!"

The student said with respect and Eolas responded in kind.

"Good morning... Sorry you need to leave now..."

Eolas didn't give him a chance to respond, because the confused boy who was actually going to leave was lifted up with Eolas Telekenesis and was quickly but safely moved out of the room. when he made sure no one else was in the toilets, Eolas instantly activated his connection to the Misaka network.

"Connect..."

...

...

...

Though like it was great timing, just as he was about to communicate with the Misaka sisters in Academy city. Eolas' phone had started to go off it was his message tone, he had taken out of his pocket noticing there was a lot of messages and miss calls from various contacts in last half an hour. So something has been happening if he was getting this many calls. So why didn't he actually noticed... Was he too focused on today's events? ... He felt disappointed in himself and then again this time his phone had started to ring and it was from Mikoto Misaka...

But once again like he had no control, he remember that point from his nightmare... He couldn't help feel rather worried about what is going to happen. He was thinking that the part with Aleister doing something with Mikoto was true. He was starting to shake with anger, but it didn't take long for him to realise that he needs to answer the phone before jumping to conclusions. He also felt silly he was letting a nightmare to dictate his reactions. He was being over paranoid right? He slowly answer the phone and the first thing he can hear was electrical shocks... Mikoto was in combat? It suddenly then went quiet after hearing Mikoto asking Touma to stall for time.

"Eolas?"

That was the only thing she can said before Eolas responded. Obviously relax knowing that his nightmare didn't become a reality, despite realising that she was in combat. He instantly forgotten about that fact when she called his name.

"I here you been missing? Kuroko has been worried..."

"I'll make it up to her later, but we may need you help? I don't really understand the situation myself, but you remember when you told me about this world of magic..."

"Yeah? What don't tell me you been dragged into Kamijou's troubles?"

Eolas made it seem a forbidding thing then it actually sounds. While in truth Mikoto could take on a lot of elements on the magical side, even with her lack of knowledge. But the important thing was the political tension between both sides. If such a high level esper interfere with magician's activities, then it could cause an incident. It's why though having connections with the magic side, he was still an esper... He didn't want to stir the pot... Kamijou can get away with it because of his status as a level 0.

Mikoto bluntly responded to what Eolas had asked.

"... Exactly what happened... Anyway, heres the thing both of them claim what this enemy claims to be... That hes the knight Sir Lancelot you told me about, when you first tried to explain the magical world too me."

She was right, when both of them sat down and talked about their past after last months events. Eolas promised to be an open book and even though he knew she will find it hard to believe. He had told her about everything he had experienced and known about magic. That his family was magical in nature and that his first real experience with the supernatural was in fact with Sir Lancelot. He didn't know it yet and nor did Mikoto, but basically he personally confirmed that was the first thing he was taught at such a young age. About Sir Lancelot and the connection with his family. Though unlike his sister, he doesn't know the full story about why hes after the imagine breaker and those with the pieces of Avalon. He doesn't know anything about that... all he knows is that there was a ghost of Sir lancelot and it caused his family trouble in the past.

So as Mikoto begun to explain that Kamijou was being attacked by a knight. With that description and the she was dragged in because she could help slow him down with her electrical powers. It caught Eolas by surprise and it make Mikoto confused as well...Because simply... he only seen that knight as simply...

"That can't be my father's imaginary friend?"

But his doubt would be quickly destroyed as he heard the rageful shout of Sir Lancelot through Mikoto's phone.

"IMAGINE BREAKER! GIVE IT BACK!"

There was a sudden rush of nostalgia running through his mind. Because he remembered being told before he was disowned by his father, that if Sir Lancelot was running about again. Then either his father is playing games or that he is dead... He had remembered that piece of knowledge like it was bed time story, his mother used to tell him... Eolas didn't want to believe it, but he couldn't waste no more time... He was going to go them and find out if this in fact the same knight of the ghost he had saw as a child.

* * *

**Author Notes:** It's pretty sad when you know this whole situation, becomes a one sided manipulation but there is major reasons why this is happening. It should be pretty obvious but this entire situation is a lead up to getting the gang to England. After all... You couldn't simply just ask Eolas to go back... Last time he left Academy city, lot of people paid the price. So you can imagine how he feels about leaving again... All that will be explored in the next chapter...

If I were to guess it from what I got planned. Two more chapters until the gang at least heads to England, kind of a long build up to get there... but I had to forge a legit reason why they had to go. It will not be a train bombing that incurred in the original English civil war story. Which brings Touma and Index there. Besides theres more then just them this time.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and my imagination of the Stuart's family's history. So Laura and Eolas are the decedents of the thief that stolen Avalon. What a family...

Next time... **Chapter 5 - **The Gambit


	5. The Gambit

**Chapter Five** _- _The Gambit

_"It wasn't something I really thought about, I mean I was really young and I thought the so called knight ghost was just an imaginary friend. Though I guess my family gave me that impression, because what else would you tell a child? Was they going to reveal the shocking truth along with Santa Claus when I've gotten older? Considering what happened a year after my mother's death. The chance to ever explain the reality of that Ghost never came up, but now that I think about the stories my mother told be as bedtime stories. It's like they knew this was going to happen? The knight that was bound to my father. No wonder you can only see the knight roam around when he was around. Even when my father was disowning at a young age, I remember see the knight standing in the corner of the room. Overlooking what was going on with learning eyes, he looked like he had a life full of regrets... Now it's like looking in a mirror. _

_Still I can't believe I never questioned that part of my life, every other part has just been part of someone's plan. So why didn't I think about then? The story of the rageful knight, the bloody cross and how he became bounded to my father. Damn now that I think about it, they were kind of some nasty stories. Can't believed I enjoyed those type of stories when I was a child. No wonder why my former power developer thought I would be a great human weapon... Though... I still have my doubts that this situation is as simple as it seems... I don't have any love for my family, if you knew them then you wouldn't either. They don't care about each other like a family should, the Stuarts are like lions who chew what they want and spit them out when they're done... But I'm a Stuart... And thinking like one... If either my father is dead or he released Lancelot here on purpose. I'll need to call in a favour." _

...

...

...

The knight moved like none other. Expecting somebody who bore heavy armour and wielding a giant sword. You expect their movements to be slow and pretty easy to out manoeuvre for one who isn't weighed down by armour. Despite Touma amazing ability to dodge incoming attacks, not even his reflexes could out manoeuvre this great knight for long. Lancelot's attacks were strong and precise. Strong enough to cut two men clean through with one mighty swing. It was for all these reasons why Touma had to bring Mikoto Misaka into the battle. He doesn't normally want to involved anybody in his own problems. But he has learned that asking for help sometimes wouldn't hurt anyone. From what has happened since the start of the battle in the abandoned warehouse. Mikoto Misaka's electromagnetic ability allowed her to redirect the great knight's swings. But she wasn't able to stop them in completely, Lancelot was obviously strong to wield such a giant sword. But it's not like he had the strength alone to overpower the magnetic power of Mikoto's ability. But it was his sword that gave Lancelot the tremendous edge... While Index didn't know the why of Lancelot's origins, she knew about some of the legends. But his sword was well documented in one of her many books laid locked in her mind.

Arondight the blade of the vengeful Knight. It's believed that the sword isn't truly existent in the current timeline, giving it a different name known as the 'Anchor of time.' The reason for this as it has the ability to call upon the strength of it's wielder from different points of time and drag it into the present. Meaning when Lancelot swings it, the blade calls upon past an future times when he swings it and combines the strength of the impact. But this only counts for the duration of when Lancelot goes into rage. It doesn't call upon the strength from past moments, when he is in a blinding rage. Meaning that it isn't an instant ability of the blade to use when entering battle. But this power also counts for kinetic blasts, which is similar to a telekinetic blast but has to go through the sword. While kinetic blasts allows Lanelot to throw objects away, he can't use to it lift objects up and move them around like a telekinetic could do.

There is also another reason for it's second name, 'Anchor of time'. That is down to the identity of the sword's only user. The identity of the Arondight has been hidden throughout history, but has always been recorded as an undying Knight who cannot be killed. This is because some believe the Knight isn't dead or alive but stuck in between. Some suggestions point towards the sword's abilities, that upon receiving the blade Arondight. You become undying and always return to the state upon receiving the blade. Though this has been contradicted from other sources, the only way possible of beating this Knight was to take the blade away from Lancelot. She doesn't realise it, but it was rather obvious Index doesn't have any knowledge about the Stuart families' connection. And their method of dealing with Lancelot... But even if she did there was still one problem facing them...

Lancelot was increasingly making more powerful attacks and the knight wasn't slow or even clumsy with his sword play. If anybody knew the legends, then they know then this knight was once considered the perfect knight. The problem they was facing, they can't even get a proper hit in... let alone disarming the knight. Without proper way of projecting himself, Touma was more in danger then Mikoto Misaka. And the knight was heading straight for him, mostly ignoring her and Index.

"I NEED IT BACK!"

The Knight roared and with his quick speed found himself in striking distance of Touma. There was no way he could dodge this time without assistance and that is where Mikoto came in. She defiantly stepped forward and unleashed a powerful wave of electricity, it wasn't directed at the knight but just in front of him. The surge of electricity crashed into the wall on the complete opposite side of the room of Mikoto and it was fast enough to catch the knight off-guard. The knight was instantly caught in it and his armour was being magnetised to the ground. You could see Lancelot struggling to stay standing, even keeping hold of his sword. But the blade Arondight started to give a dark magical glow, which was basically giving Lancelot more strength to overcome the magnetism. She started to notice he was about to break out of her hold and like she was going to throw something with her right hand. Which she was using to keep the constant flow of electricity, she increase the surge tremendously and literally managed to throw the knight right of his feet. She instantly collapse to her left knee, because she had to use a massive surge of energy in one moment.

But Touma noticing this quickly ran forward and headed straight for the knight who had fallen to the grown. Nothing seemed to have change physically for the knight, who had let go of Arondight due to Mikoto's efforts. But the Knight seemed to have the same sense of calm it did before the battle begun. Before the knight was honourable and reasonable but during battle he blinded with rage. He knew something up with that blade, which was driving the knight. Touma had the idea if he could negative that blade's effects, then this fight would be over and the knight would remain calm. But not everything went to plan when Touma touched the blade with his right hand.

At first it had seem nothing had happened, which was like the time he had touched Index's clothes. The results wasn't immediately apparent, but it wasn't long before the blade started to turn into strange black smoke and unexpectedly the knight changed with it. The black smoke passed by Touma, who watched it closely and as it past him the smoke quickly reformed back into the knight. Lancelot was standing suddenly behind Touma with the blade in hand and went to strike him down. But up this close and who wasn't actually caught off guard. Touma managed to once to land a direct punch to Lancelot's face with his right hand.

And once again the knight along with his blade changed to black smoke, Touma took this chance to step away from the smoke which quickly reformed back to the knight. But a certain electrical princess wasn't going to give it a chance to attack. A lighting arc crashed right into the knight, who seemed to be effected by the electrical surge but easily shrugged it off. It was this point everybody realised, only Touma's ability seems to give it that smoke form. Was this the power of the sword? Even if it was the blade's power should of been negated upon touching Touma'a imagin breaker. The conclusion was that something was sending constant power to this knight and the blade as well. But what was powering it?

"You don't have one of the pieces?"

The knight seems to have been broken from it's rage. It seems hitting him with IB had at least calm down this knight's rage and know was showing the same clarity when talking with Index earlier.

"Pieces of what?"

Touma responded who along with Mikoto had walked over to Index. It was very clear from the battle that despite being in a rage, it avoided attacking anyway near Index. It was bad for Touma to use her like this but it was just insurance and even Index would of told him to do it anyway. The large Knight just stared at all three of them, it didn't responded but was looking at them intensely.

"That vile power is here, but not with a piece of Avalon? But..."

The knight suddenly stopped talking and look slowly towards the left. Though he was looking at the wall of the warehouse, it seem that it was looking for something in that direction. His eyes were like the knight was in some sort of trance. Awkwardly Mikoto's ring tone on her phone broke the silence, but the knight remained unmoving in response. She looked to see that it was Eolas calling and when she answered that was when the knight moved.

"THERE I SEE IT'S LOCATION!"

Lancelot roared suddenly and rushed towards the exit of the warehouse. Touma reacted in response and along with Index decided to give chase. But Mikoto didn't move as she heard Eolas speak on the other side of the phone...

_"Brace yourselves." _

Hearing this she shouted out to the other two.

"You two get down..."

The line on the other side of the phone went dead and in mere seconds a massive shockwave could be felt coming from outside. If she wasn't warned about it then she probably thought it was an earthquake. And it had seriously felt like one, it was powerful enough to blast the windows of the warehouse through and she even was pushed off the ground. She had saw Touma covering himself and index from a large gust of dust coming from the exit of the warehouse. Whatever Eolas just did the impact had basically incurred right outside,ng. As everything seem to died down, she rushed over to Touma and index to see for herself what happened.

"He always has to make an entrance doesn't he?"

Touma laughed to what Index said, but it was out shock by how absurd measures that Eolas just pulled. Looking outside, you can see Eolas on top of the knight with his fist on the back of the knight. The ground around them was cracked up from the impact and basically anything around that wasn't securely attached to the ground was blown away. Eolas was breathing heavily and for good reason.

Eolas had dropped himself from the top of the warehouse, when he noticed the knight had left the building. He had concentrated a lot of telekinetic force to his fist and unleashed it all upon impact with the Knight. The result of that impact was as the others had witnessed... devastating. Eolas stumbled off from the knight, rubbing the arm and hand he used to attack. But he quickly turned around to the knight, figuring out if he had actually knocked the guy out or something. Eolas has the tendency to pull of hard and effective hits to put his targets out of the game. He rarely pulls punches no matter if the target is weak or not. But the attack he just used would of put out one of those Rensa from a month ago.

...

...

...

The knight suddenly turned into black smoke once more, Eolas looked rather clueless about what was happening.

"Get back, he's going to come back!"

Index shouted out first and upon hearing this Eolas jump backwards away from the black smoke which did indeed reformed back into the Knight. Lancelot didn't look injured at all, despite taking Eolas attack the knight was acting like nothing had happened. But unlike how the knight first reacted to Touma, Lancelot stared intensely at Eolas like he had seen him before. But the certain telekinetic was looking at the knight with amusement.

"So you're not my father's imaginary friend? You do look the same."

There was no response from the Knight, who still continued to look at Eolas with an untrusting stare. He then started to walk away from Eolas, towards the same direction he was heading upon leaving the Warehouse. But he had stopped upon noticing he can't move his sword arm. This is because Eolas had his telekinetic grip on the sword Arondight.

"Oi... it's rude to walk away when someone asks you a question..."

Eolas said in response and when Lancelot turned back to him. Only then did he realise the knight's anger was rising quickly and that was because of one thing. And Eolas could see it without being told by the knight himself.

"It looks like you just noticed. You know who I am don't you? No need to look surprise, the expression in your eyes give it all the way... You probably thinking, what is a Stuart doing all the way out here in Japan? Well you should remember? You was there when my father disowned me, standing in the corner of the room and looking on as the events transpired... But that isn't really important, because I want you to understand that I intend to bind you like my father did... "

Eolas was purposely provoking the Knight and Lancelot responded in kind. He was obviously angry at the fact a Stuart was right here and he had all the reason to be upset. Because it was them who had caused this entire mess and held him in shackles for many, many years. Knowing that he was about to attack, Eolas purposely let go off Lancelot's sword and jumped backwards. Putting his right hand forward and the palm of that hand facing down. A very familiar sphere of light appeared in his hand and it wasn't long until it started to change into a telekinetic sword.

Upon summoning his weapon, Lancelot stopped from attacking Eolas straight away. In fact the Knight stood at sword length away from Eolas and was standing in a defensive position. On the flip side, Eolas didn't have a sense of proper sword play. He knew when it comes to it, this knight would obviously outmatch him in this regard. So he wondered if the knight was waiting for him to attack first? If that was the case then this battle wasn't going to start straight away. Neither of them had the intention to blindly attack first and it was smart of them. Anybody who could hold their own against Mikoto and Touma was clearly somebody dangerous. Sure Eolas knew about this guy from what he was told by his parents, but that doesn't mean he should underestimate the guy. And he noticed very clearly from how serious the knight was taking him, that he wasn't being underestimated either. This actual fact really annoyed him and that is because Eolas felt like he was looking in a mirror. This gave him horrible memories of Michael who looked liked him.

"Screw it. I don't have all day to stand here!"

Eolas stepped forward while holding his telekinetic sword with both hands and swung it down hard against Lancelot. But the knight easily moved his sword in the way and parried Eolas attack. Unfazed from Eolas' assault, it was Lancelot's turn who went on the offensive and once again displayed the ability to swing that giant sword around quickly. So much that even Eolas' often quick reflexes was struggling to keep up and he was about to find out about Arondight's ability. Lancelot had gotten in the position where he was about to swing his giant sword right down upon Eolas. It was coming far too quickly and the only thing he can do was to block it with his telekinetic sword.

Eolas learned two things in that moment.

As their swords once again clashed, he had learned the sheer growing strength of this knight. But more damaging to Eolas was when Lancelot's attack was so strong it had broke his telekinetic sword. While it was enough to keep him from harm, but when the telekinetic sword broke it caused a striking pain in Eolas' mind. This had made him stumble back and then he moved back further to put some distance between them. This shouldn't be surprised when items he creates with his telekinesis causes serve migraines. They're created using his mind and the items are like an extension of his thoughts made reality with his powers. If he experiences a few more of these he could lose conciseness.

"EOLAS!"

Mikoto called out who was hurryingly getting an arcade coin from her pocket. But it was too late for her to directly interfere as Lancelot manages to strike Eolas right down his chest. Thankfully Eolas did manage to move back far enough for the attack not to be fatal. The result of the attack had left a nasty cut right down the middle of his chest, ripping through his school blazer and shirt. You expect the person getting hurt in this way would be on the defensive, but this is exactly what Eolas wanted. You see this was the Stuart way of dealing with this knight... He can't explain it but all the stories he heard as a kid makes sense... The way the knight attacks and how he recovers from injuries. It was all told through the stories his mother had told him, what she told him before she had die. Was they preparing him for this inevitable situation? It doesn't matter now, the only thing left was to bind Lancelot to himself.

Upon reaffirming his intentions, Eolas' eyes started to turn pure white and in that instant while not able to lift the knight off the ground. His powers was strong enough to push the knight back against it's will. You can see how hard Lancelot was struggling against it as his feet was dragging against the ground.

"Miko-Chan!"

Eolas called out and she immediately ran out towards the battle leaving the other two behind. As she was running towards Lancelot, she was gathering a large concentrated amounts of electricity and when Lancelot stopped moving due to Eolas she hammered it all down right ontop of the Knight. She was surging roughly over half a billion of volts in that one attack. This was all with the intention to stop Lancelot from moving, normally she wouldn't use this amount of power against anyone. But considering what she had seen so far, she has concluded herself that the knight wasn't human. So there was no reason for her to hold back.

Taking this chance that Mikoto gave him, Eolas unbuttoned the rest of his blazer and shirt which wasn't ripped by Lancelot's attack. He then wipe some of the blood from his wound and marked across his chest with his blood horizontally. It went right through the middle of his wound which made it look like he had a red cross on his chest now. While not perfect because he was still bleeding it should be fine. Knowing how to bind Lancelot like his father did, he had wondered how his father actually create this spell. It takes no magic on his part, because the spell was actually infused with Lancelot's spiritual existence. All he need to do was to make a blood cross on Lancelot's chest plate. It's a thought for another day, because Mikoto's actions was still working and he had thought it was possible to get him right now. But that knight was becoming incredibly stubborn, there was a magical glow coming from his sword and slowly but surely he had begun to move forward again.

"I DON'T THINK SO!"

Mikoto had noticed that he was going to break free and instantly turned up the juice. With this amount of power, Lancelot should be stuck to the ground but he was still standing. Eolas was about to make his move but suddenly his phone had started to ring... He took it out like nothing was happening and turned the ring tone off. He then put it back and quickly throw his telekinetic grip at Lancelot. Both Mikoto and Eolos moved so they both was on opposite sides of the knight. The surging power of Mikoto's electromaster abilities and Eolas' crushing telekinesis was holding the knight still in his place.

"KAMIJOU COME HERE!"

Not knowing what he could do to help, the only thing he could actually do was to temporary immobilise the knight with his right hand. But he figured that Eolas may of got something figured out. So he didn't waste time to run over to him, leaving Index safely at the side. There was no reason for her to get directly involved, she was showing a unique lack of knowledge which was very strange. She knew something about any magical issue, she held a vast a mount of knowledge on the magical side. And yet this situation was a mystery and from how Eolas was acting so far. He knew more then he was letting on, this was greatly annoying Index. But that wasn't a priority right now, the moment Touma stood beside Eolas. He asked what had happened when the knight came in contact with his IB. He had explained the very familiar situation when the knight turned to black smoke after receiving a fatal attack. I guess this shouldn't be a surprised, he had an idea to why Touma's IB didn't work.

Touma already knew that his right hand would only temporary work, if power was constantly flowing into the target. But he didn't have a clue what was powering the knight and Eolas was able to reveal that answer. It was simply his sword and the character of the knight. The sword Arondight was being powered by the regret and rage of Lancelot. For all those who knew of the Arthurian Legends, there was many stories about this knight's rage and decisions he had taken which lead nothing to regret.

His sword feeds on this fact and gives Lancelot in turn great powers as a result. Basically it was an infinite loop of power between the knight and sword. While the Knight's character powered the sword constantly, the sword also powers the knight just the same. This is why Touma's right hand only works temporary on both of them. But that doesn't explain why it didn't work when Lancelot wasn't holding the sword. None of the really knew the answer, but it basically came down to the anchor of time effect. To the sword and Knight, they're connected outside the boundaries of time. Being physically connected means nothing in the end. If this was truly the case of beating Lancelot by taking the sword away. Then the knight wouldn't of existed all the way to modern day. He was roaming about most of his existence until Eolas' father came along.

"Enough with the explanation!"

Mikoto shouted at them, this was because she had noticed that despite Lancelot being restrained by both her and Eolas. He was beginning to move slowly again, at this rate it wouldn't be long until he breaks free.

"OK, I know it doesn't look pretty but you need to trust me. Wipe some of my blood on your fingers. Not with your right hand and make a cross on the knight's chest. Do this and it'll be all over."

_'huh'_

After explaining the next step to Touma, Eolas swore he had noticed somebody in the distance watching them. But that wasn't a priority, Touma understand what had to be done. Though he thought it was strange to actually use his blood, despite the situation they found them in. He closed his eyes before wiping the blood from Eolas' chest on his hand and then rushed towards the knight. Lancelot was clearly starting to move more as the sword continued to glow.

"Hurry up!"

Eolas shouted as Lancelot was beginning to lift his sword up high. It was like he was preparing to cut Touma in half if he got closer. But both Mikoto and Eolas realised this was going to happen. The moment Touma had gotten to the knight, Mikoto let go of lancelot himself and channelled it just to his sword. Considering Lancelot was facing away from Mikoto and he was holding his sword up high. This had made it much easier to hold it back away from Touma, while Eolas was left to keep still his entire body.

Their efforts was enough... It wasn't as large as the bloody cross on Eolas' chest but Touma managed to do it. And it was rather a close call, the blade Arondight was just right above his head. If Mikoto was putting a little bit less effort, then Touma would of be done for right then.

It was strange, you expect something to happen as a result. But it was like time had stood still for them all as Lancelot stopped moving. And it wasn't due to Mikoto and Eolas' powers. They had both collapsed to their knees from using too much power. And then only when the dust settled and Touma moved away from the Knight.

Lancelot the knight had started to faded away like dust from everybody's site. Well except for a certain Stuart among them. For the others it was over and in a way it was for Eolas as well. Because in this state the knight was nothing more then a Ghost and only to be seen by Stuarts. It was strange, they was just in combat but the first thing the Ghost of Lancelot did was simply starting to walk around. He was acting like he had become lost and had not clue where to go. It was strange and Eolas found it rather sad thing to see. But he had no choice, Lancelot was a walking time bomb. And the others was just as happy to see this entire thing over.

While Index walks to Touma to check on him, Mikoto had gone over to Eolas to check if he was OK. He was bleeding from his chest and his school uniformed was kinda ruined. This was actually the first time she had seen Eolas' chest, despite it being being in a bloody state. She didn't react as one would expect, but she had took out a Gekota handkerchief and tried to clear it up. While she did she had noticed that there was many scars across his chest, not including the future one he just received from Lancelot. She had wondered about how he received them all.

"I'm sorry, there is no reason why you should do this..."

Eolas said who took over to clear up his chest. Normally you put pressure on a cut to stop the bleeding and when his chest was cleaned up. That's exactly what he just did... He used his telekinetic ability to keep a constant pressure and insure he didn't start bleeding again. He then tried to button up his shirt, but it was kinda of pointless considering only three buttons remained. The rest were torn from the shirt from Lancelot's attack.

None of them didn't know what to think about how the Knight was defeated. Eolas didn't seem too willing to explain. And it was only the sound of his phone ringing once again, which broke the brief silence. He then quickly took the phone and immediately hanged up.

...

...

...

"You might as well get out here. I noticed you watching earlier..."

The others was suddenly confused about what Eolas was talking about, until a certain blacked robbed mage started to walk into the courtyard. He was pretty tall and had striking red hair.

"Looks like everything went according to how she said it would. Let's hope this next part would go just as planned."

Touma was the first one to react.

"Stiyl what are you doing here?"

Touma had asked, which Stiyl was happy to answer.

"Originally too offer assistance against the Knight. But it looks like Eolas Stuart did his duty according to his family. The problem now is that I have orders to bring Index back to England."

Touma stepped forward when he heard this and his question was obvious.

"Why now? What is going on?"

Index looked annoyed by the situation, this seems to be preplanned by how it sounds. Mikoto looked rather confused about the whole thing and Eolas looked completely furious while staring at Stiyl. This hadn't gone unnoticed by him and it wasn't long until another person arrived on the scene. It was the Saint Kanzaki Kaori. She didn't come with ill intentions, but the vibe she was getting from Eolas then you couldn't blame her to have one hand on her blade. She spoke up to try and clear up the situation.

"Not only Index, but we ordered to bring you as well Kamijou Touma. As you probably found out, the knight intentionally targeted you at first. We had no intention of splitting you two up, but your safety is our priority until this situation is under control. "

There was a very straight forward tension in this situation, Eolas was staring about both Stiyl and Kanzaki with a furious expression. And it wasn't at them personally at all, it's from what he expects to come out of his mouth and awkwardly Eolas' phone once get went off. And once again he hung it up straight away.

"Situation?"

Mikoto asked who obviously was the least knowledgeable person on the magic side. And Eolas who was standing next to her was happy to answer.

"I told you before about Lancelot and my father. If that knight was set free then that only means on purpose or that my father is dead. There is something people should understand about my family. The Stuarts are like Lions who chew up everything they want and spit it out when they're done. This has made the Stuarts a very powerful family in England for many centuries. His death obviously has left a large power vacuum in the country and now many other families are going to jump at the chance to fill it. My sister needs me to return to England to show that the Stuart family is united and should not be defied. No matter how you look at it, she only wants me to come back to fulfil her own objectives. Am I correct Stiyl? Is my father dead and that my sister wants me back for no other reason then family issues?"

Stiyl had nodded to confirm Eolas' words. Meaning that they had come to bring not only Touma and Index to England. But they also need to bring Eolas Stuart along with them, while there was clear reason to why they should go. A certain Telekinetic user wasn't to happy about the motion. It would mean leaving Academy city and he knew more then anyone else what happened last time.

"Give regards to my Sister. I have no intention of leaving this city."

Once again Eolas' phone started to ring shortly after Eolas declined going to England. As it rung, all of them including Mikoto started to see themselves get surrounded by many magicians. Well they don't seem to be from an organisation in Academy city. Regardless they had started to surround the court yard, there was over thirty of them. No matter where you look around, there was a magician waiting and keeping a close eye on Eolas mostly.

"I'm sorry about this but your Sister has given us strict orders to bring you back. Even if we have to force you."

Stiyl warns who didn't like the position they were in. Both him and Eolas were friendly enough in the past to work together. Stiyl was in fact the one who helped Eolas to sneak into Academy city and help implementing the memory block on his mind. But in the end orders were orders and he seriously didn't like it when Eolas declined. Through all of this Eolas' phone has been ringing and briefly after Stiyl gave his warning. Eolas answered his phone this time not hanging up.

"Are you ready? ... Then Surround them."

This surprised nearly everybody and the results of what he said were already being shown. Necessarius had obviously came here by force with the possibility of forcing their intentions on the three. While Index and Kamijou were more then willing to ago after explaining. From Eolas' reaction there wasn't a lot of hope for talking this out. Eolas was pretty stubborn when he made his mind up and his past actions clearly supported this fact. But to him he wasn't going to sit by while he allow his sister pull his strings this easy. So before he even came to this location to help the fight against the Knight, Eolas had a terrible feeling that this felt like a set up. It always comes to that when his family involved and from the looks of things... that is exactly what happened. So he called in a favour and only Mikoto knew that means. She wasn't surprised by what he said on the phone.

She knew full well about his activities in the last month. And everything he has done in that time was about to show it's merits. Out of no where, students mixed together with individual in tactical black op suits started to emerge on the warehouse roof. No only there, many more of similar individuals started to appear around the area even surrounding the Necessarius agents in the process.

"Two years ago I had the intention of destroying the darkness of this city. But I learned a very hard lesson that I can never do it properly on my own. So I had an idea a month ago, why not utilise the very traits that this city spent so much Yen and time to develop... Project Imperator... do you know what the first step of that involved? ... The total and complete destruction of Vatican city."

Eolas was saying some pretty heavy stuff, the very thought of it was frightening to himself. Because he knew that if it wasn't for meeting Mikoto at a young age, that was most likely of already been completed at this stage.

"That's right. This city was planning mass warfare on a scale not seen since World war 2. They did take myself at a young age and trained me to become a weapon of war. They also intended for me to lead an army of clones to use in the invasion of Vatican city. But thankfully thanks to these lot..."

Eolas said referring to Mikoto, Touma and Index.

"I didn't walk down that path, but I have all the intention of not leaving this city. The last time I did it cause so much trouble for everyone. People I cared for had suffered and I don't want to take that chance again. Not at least until a certain individual has been dealt with. "

It was a complete reversal as Eolas tried to explain his position. The support Eolas had carved out of the underworld this past month was currently in force right now. None of them shouldn't be surprised about this complete turn around. They was dealing with a Stuart family member and they knew that he thinks like his very own sister. Calculating and ruthless. Eolas continued talking...

"I'm sorry... I can see that my family issues has dragged us all into this situation. I have no ill-intentions towards none of you. But you better give me a better reason to leave this city and saying its for my family will not work..."

...

...

...

"Very well. We have no choice but to take this method."

Stiyl said and soon after the various magicians he had come with started to leave. They were retreating from the scene and the forces that Eolas brought didn't react to it. They just remained in their potions ready to engage. Stiyl then took out a talisman from inside his coat and offers it to Eolas slowly.

"If you not going to listen to us either way, then do me a favour and talk to your sister."

* * *

**Author notes: **Eolas has taken the role his father had and has bound Lancelot to himself. The knight is now sadly once again a Ghost. The events are going to plan according to how Laura sees it, but not even she could predict her brother's reaction. Her conversation with a brother coming up next chapter was supposed to be in this one. But looking at it I felt it fit better in the next chapter. Looks like A certain middle school is going to lose once again at this rate.

My story planning did have the journey to England to be made between chapter 6 - 8. So everything seems on course. Good work my horrible imagination.

**Chapter 6** - A regretful decision leads to a holiday?


	6. A regretful decision leads to a holiday?

**Chapter 6** - A Regretful decisions leads to a Holiday?

He can't put his finger on it, but things are moving in a strange way which is only going to lead to trouble. What Eolas is thinking is that there are these little things, moments which often lead to signs of trouble or something big happening. That is what he is seeing right now, this just feels so strange for him and he only felt this before with Michael a month ago and before that the lead up to his rebellion two years ago. If anything he should be good by now at spotting the signs of trouble and he did in this moment. Whatever the story is behind the Knight Lancelot, the fact it was involved with his family was more then enough to take concern. So that's why he went to the warehouse only after calling in a favour, but it wasn't like he had time to organise a battalion...

So when Stiyl Magnus handed him the communication talisman, Eolas had to confirm the mood of the situation after most of the magicians started to retreat. It seems none of them desire to start a fight between magic and science forces. Even Kanzaki relaxed her guard, despite having the capability of giving Eolas a run for his money and take on everybody he had called in. Along with Stiyl and the forces they brought with them, it's possible even with his quick planning Eolas would of ultimately been defeated. Though that's not including others factors, which include Touma, Index and Mikoto Misaka.

"So let me get this straight. I assume giving me this and withdrawing your forces. You have no intention of forcing me to go..."

Stiyl had just lit a cigarette after giving Eolas the communication talisman. He had also nodded to confirm him about his intentions of not using force.

"Look we both know what we could do and none of us really wanted to fight. The show of force was merely a bluff which you called. But just like you said, this was only brought about because of events with your family. I don't see why after working with each other in the past, that we destroy the relationship down to family squabble. So do me and Kanzaki a favour by talking with your Sister. Also can you tell them lot to stand down?"

Eolas look briefly amused when Stiyl was talking and after he had finished he couldn't but help to laugh. This obviously made the situation feel awkward and made Stiyl react angry.

"What the hell are you laughing about?"

Eolas didn't responded but looked at Mikoto who instantly understood the reason. She basically hid her head in shame because of the fact and it's not because of Eolas' reaction or Stiyl. But the truth behind Eolas' allies that had surrounded the magicians earlier. You see Eolas did get to the warehouse rather quickly, there was no possible way not even for him to organise a large force in such a short time. The truth of the fact was about to be made clear.

"HEY AMATO! YOU CAN STOP THE PUPPET SHOW!"

This caught the others by surprise and made Stiyl feel foolish because he instantly understand that he fell for one of Eolas' bluff instead. An Italian sounded voice could be heard responding to Eolas' shout.

"Understood! Also wait for me their princess!"

After Amato's response, the people who Eolas had called in started to vanish like projections being turned off. The other's was still surprised by Eolas' bluff, but Stiyl no longer cared and couldn't help but to ask something. From how they disappearing, Stiyl remarked that he know understood why he didn't spot then while on the way here. Even if they were waiting for his emergence on the scene, they should of been some hint of such a large force's presence. But there wasn't any, this because they were just like projections. After understanding this he couldn't but help to further remark about what Amato said.

"Is he calling you the princess?

Stiyl asked followed by Eolas nodding his head in disagreement and slowly pointed towards Mikoto who was holding her head in shame. It was at this same time a young man leapt off the roof of the warehouse. He had blonde hair which length went to his shoulders and notably had sharp blue eyes. He was easily recognizable as Italian, if you couldn't tell from his voice earlier then you would notice from his general appearance and uniform. He looked like he was in clothes often used by mechanics and he had a little tag on his chest which had the Italian flag. He had a strange looking wrench in his side pocket and a remote control in his left hand. His expression gave the assumption he was cocky in nature and instantly he was looking towards Mikoto.

"Good too see you well my Electrical Princess! You should stop round more and help with powering my new toys."

Eolas was amused by his usual behaviour and shrug in response. Mikoto merely walked behind Eolas away from him, there was an amusing history between these two. They only met roughly two weeks ago, it was one of the times Mikoto helped Eolas out during his underworld activates. It was to bail out Amato who was working for an underground facility, he worked on many of Academy cities' latest military technology and thus was very vital to recruit in Eolas' opinion. Sometime after Mikoto supercharged one of his high tech motorcycles, this is because it failed to start due to available functioning power supply. The result of her action had left Amato oddly impressed and has been in love with Mikoto ever since. Though it's very hard to know if its actual love or just loving what she can do with his toys.

Mikoto doesn't have ill will towards him, but he often reminds her of a male version of Kuroko. To the point were she had to shock him and even Eolas had to hit him when he gets to crazy. But at heart Amato is a friendly and trusting person who always come through when needed. This recent event only proves his commitment to work with Eolas, coming out at short notice and immediately to back Eolas' up.

"Eolas please hit him before I do."

Mikoto said in response to Amato's childish behaviour. She didn't actually expect him to hit Amato, that would be very ungrateful for him after coming out so quickly. But there was business need to be done.

"Amato I'm grateful for your help. It looks like your visual holograms works great, enough to fool these guys... Yeah, let me introduce you to Amato De Vitis hes an esper, but primarily a mechanic who helped development with many of Academy cities' military technology. He's part of my own team I've been establishing, there is six members in total if you don't count the temporary members."

"Temporary? You mean the princess there and the blonde chick in Tokiwadai?"

Eolas face palmed when Amato said that, who continued to talk about the certain blonde chick. It became increasingly obvious that Amato was what you call a pervert. Which made the situation rather awkward in an amusing way, but this was distracting everybody from the important issues going on. When Eolas noticed the ghost of Lancelot passing Amato and looking in the same direction it tried to run too earlier. This triggered Eolas' curious nature and wanting to understand further about Lancelot's objectives. The others may know something about it from interacting with the knight longer. But more so what does his sister know about it? He knew that his sister will probably try to convince him to go, but that wasn't going to happen. He doesn't care about the survival of his family and she will need a pretty good reason to convince him otherwise.

"Amato... thank you... Why don't you get back to that project, sorry for using up your time..."

The Italian instantly stopped his childish behaviour and gave a gentlemen's bow towards Eolas. He knew very well when he is no longer needed, despite being disturbed from his current project Amato owes Eolas from being helped out roughly two weeks ago. They only knew each that long, but there was mutual trust between them.

"Ciao everybody. Eolas I'll be at the usual place and princess don't be afraid to visit some of my machines do need your electrical touch."

Amato said with amusement, who gracefully started to walk away while waving as he left. With Amato's departure Eolas decided it was time to speak with his sister, he went into the warehouse were the fight with the knight originally started. This was just to ensure there was no unwanted ears listening in. He invited everybody to come and listen but only Mikoto and Index decided to come. Stiyl, Kanzaki and Touma were waiting at the entrance of the warehouse. Before he decided to use the communication talisman he asked both Mikoto and Index if they knew more about the Knight's intentions or goals. Considering he didn't really give Lancelot the time to talk when he had arrived.

Since Mikoto really didn't understand it all, she allowed Index to go ahead. She begun to explain about how Lancelot acted and what he was after which was a stolen item from his Lord. Considering Eolas knew that it was the actual Lancelot from Arthurian legends, he quickly knew it was about King Arthur and Index revealed that it was about Avalon. She also remarked that the knight mentioned it was in pieces and that it had sense one of them in Academy city. The assumption was made that Touma had the piece of Avalon, which is why Lancelot kidnapped Index to get his attention.

Thanks to Index's explanation he was ready to talk with his sister. On his own he didn't know how to active the communication talisman. It was simple really, the connection was already pre-established it just needed to be activated. Which Index helped by teaching Eolas the right words. With this he was able to activate it much to Mikoto's confusion. You can tell from her expression she was trying to get her head around this magic thing. Regardless the connection was made with the communication Talisman and suddenly a voice spoke from the talisman.

"Oh my isn't this a surprise. You rarely use this method to contact me Stiyl. Did something happen?"

"Yes this big man in a metal armour, started to throw a giant ass sword around. So something did happened Laura."

Eolas responded quickly and this caught his sister off guard. In response you can hear as like she had fallen out of her chair and was quickly trying to get up.

"Huh? Don't tell me that you actually managed to kill Stiyl and Kanzaki?"

This sparked an angry response from Eolas...

"WHAT THE HELL MADE YOU GET TO THAT CONCLUSION?!"

"Do I need to remind you of your activities these past ten years?"

Laura responded casually.

"Well I'm happy that somebody from my family took an interest. But please do I need to remind you about how you achieved your position as head of the English church and Necessarius? Your hands aren't exactly spotless when it comes to blood. At least my way was direct."

"Sigh. Why do you always have to be mean to your big sister."

Laura responded in a very sad tone which just annoyed Eolas even more.

"BECAUSE YOU ALWAYS JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS WITH ME!"

Both of them continued to argue pointlessly like it was normal for them. It was a rather awkward conversation to listen on. And Mikoto who was confused about how they were actually talking couldn't but help to remark on the conversation.

"They're siblings all right, they squabbling like one at least."

Though it was a different situation, she couldn't be help think of her little sisters. All of them and specially the first one she'd ever met. But speaking up just now had revealed her presence to Laura on the other side. This instantly sparked her interest and her action is what some may suspect from their elder sister.

"Oh my. She sounds pretty, this must be your special girl which you care about so much."

This caught both Eolas and Mikoto off guard. While Index looked on with curiosity He was clearly embarrassed from what was said, but with a stubborn expression with his eyes closed. He didn't deny what his sister said.

"So what! Laura can you stop avoiding the real issue here and tell me what happened to our father. Even though I guess from your reaction, somebody who is actually surprised about it wouldn't be acting this way."

Silence finally fell between the siblings. It wasn't a problem with the connection more so Laura was thinking about what to say.

"Do you think I actually killed him?"

Eolas look rather serious when responding this time around.

"I wouldn't put is past you Laura. Besides if the shoe was on the other foot, then I would of killed that bastard the first chance I got. When it comes to me and our father. Then it was kill or be killed. Or didn't you know that he threatened to kill me if I go back to England?"

There was a brief silence but it didn't last long.

"To answer your earlier question, father as you already know is dead. From what we can tell he was killed last night, I have a feeling it's because of the very same reason he exiled you to Japan... As you probably know both me and you are the children of the Stuart's main house hold. But there are also many branch families that serve us. When a new generation of children in the Stuart family comes of age, the branch family throws their support behind the one they prefer to lead the main house. It's this tradition of our family that has always caused internal power struggle... Did you know our father was the youngest of his generation? He had killed his two elder brothers and sister. It was considered the largest internal struggle in our family for many generations. It was probably for this reason that he exiled you to Japan initially. If you had stayed in England then it was inevitable that both me and you would be played against each other. I don't know if he wanted to avoid the same blood shed between us when he dies or that he truly wanted to use you in some plan in Academy city."

Eolas couldn't but help comment the obvious.

"I'm not exactly friendly to you Laura, why do you think bringing me back to England at this time is a good thing? Even if father did tried to avoid that, why do you want to go against that right now? You just going to play with fire or is your real intention is put dead to that tradition? You want to show a united main house and put the branch families in their place?"

"You see we aren't that different. We have the same thoughts on this matter, I don't really have the heart to fight my cute little brother. Besides as I was saying, this is probably the very same reason he got murdered. Four of the branch families still support you to lead the main house and your activities a month ago being advertised around the would probably sparked it. "

You could hear Laura giggling on the other side, it was like she is enjoying talking to her little brother. But this behaviour really started to annoy Eolas.

"Eolas... what do you know about the pieces of Avalon?"

Bingo, that is what Eolas thought. He had figured that Avalon would be a driving force for his return. The whole thing about him going to England because of his family didn't really make sense. There would be much easier time for Laura to put the branch families in their place if he stayed in Academy city. So he knew there must be another reason.

"I never actually seen one, but apparently Lancelot was looking for one and believes there is a piece in Academy city. Why do you ask?"

...

...

...

"I think father hidden a piece inside you."

"No he didn't."

Eolas responded rather quickly. This caught Laura by surprised, but she was pretty sure that was the case. There was much talk and knowledge from her side that something was hidden with him.

"Explain to my Laura what Avalon can do."

Eolas asked and Laura answered gratefully

"The original Avalon grants it's wielder true immortality. Wounds would heal instantly, ageing is basically a thing of the past and you've gain unlimited supply of stamina. While the pieces of Avalon aren't as powerful as the original they still give great benefits. Basically it's the same benefits but only 1/4th of the original's po..."

"Imperator... Level six... I understand how it would benefit me if I had one... But I don't... You see none of the so call benefits has ever been seen in me. I don't heal at an incredible rate, while better then most but that only happens when I'm sleeping. I'm obviously ageing, considering the only time a piece of Avalon could of been put in me when I was five. And besides... Lancelot isn't looking at me right this moment. From what I heard from the others he can sense the pieces of Avalon. Wouldn't be be fixated on me if that was the case?"

It was true, while only Lancelot can only be seen by Eolas. The knight wasn't looking at him that you would expect if he had a piece of Avalon within him. The Knight was still looking lost but still focused in the general direction it had tried to escape too. Obviously this means the piece of Avalon was in that general direction of the city, but even if thats the case it would be hard to track down who. Academy city wasn't exactly a small place and there is over 2 million in habitants. It could be anyone and honestly this was the first time he heard about one in this city. Eolas felt that it can stay hidden within this city for all he cared. Laura had found his explanation unbelievable, she new something more then just her brother left back when he was exiled. Her father's activities and reaction told the tale of the truth.

But... she had a thought... if Eolas didn't have a piece of Avalon. Then did her mother? It would explain why shes alive as for a long while she also thought she was dead. There must be some reason to why shes in Academy city and how she survived.

"Laura you going to need a much better reason to convince me to go to England."

She knew exactly what to say in response to that. She known that in all of their family only one person didn't betray his trust. Thinking about that only made her feel kind of guilty but it was true. She don't know what to say to get his forgiveness but even she had betrayed Eolas. Ask her anytime and she would admit it straight out. And even now what she is planning to say will be another betrayal for not telling the whole truth. But she honestly believes that something was hidden with Eolas and even if that wasn't the case. She wanted to see him in person and confirm for it her self. Because she knew that wielders of the pieces of Avalon can sense each other. Well that is what her father told her and that's only because he had put a piece of Avalon within herself. She was the chosen head of the main house hold. All heads since the dark ages has had Avalon with them. To protect them while they lead the family. If her little brother comes to England, she can confirm it up and close if that's the truth.

"What if I told you that our mother is still alive."

The only one in the Stuart family that to Eolas never betrayed him was in fact his mother. To his knowledge she had cared for him as a child and died when he was only four. He had no knowledge that she is in fact alive and the very thought she could be instantly torn at him. Laura exactly knew how to pull at her brother's strings. But he wasn't going to openly admitted it, but both Index and Mikoto could see it clearly on his face. The very thought it was heart breaking to him.

"So... what... Like I care anyway."

Laura knew he was lying.

"So you don't want to find out why I think this? If you don't believe me then come back home. Come back to the family manor and read through our father's documents and letters. Not only will you find the information about out mother, but you also learn about his intentions the day he sent you away. Everything... Just come back home... You're a Stuart. This is where you belong."

...

...

...

**6pm, December 13th**

It's been many hours since the fight with the knight and talking with his sister. And honestly if anything, when he woke up this morning he didn't expect any of it. Knowing that his father is dead is rather life changing for him. He just doesn't know how to describe it, thinking that he was alive had felt like there was this wall which blocked him from a certain way of life. Was it out of fear that he never choose to go back to England? Or was it simply just disgust. Why would he go back to a place he clearly wasn't wanted?But never in his wildest dreams would he think about his father more then five minutes.

The very earliest memory which he can clearly recall, was just a memory that still is painful for him. Who wouldn't when your very own father threatens to kill his only son and pushes him away from his home to a strange land. With his mother is was a great difference, though his memories of his mother go back further then the painful one with his father. That is just because he didn't see him often due to his duties as head. She was just the complete opposite of his father, she is what you expected from a mother. To Eolas she was the only one that didn't hurt him from his family. So he has mix feelings when it comes to his mother, but even still not even her is somebody he should stir up his life for... He shouldn't just throw everything aside and find out if his sister is telling the truth. He was only young, he has some memories but not enough. He knew Mikoto's mother more then his own...

"Do you want me to tell you why, that you going to go to England this winter break?"

Mikoto spoke up who was leaning against the coffee table in a position directed at the television, but you can see she was barely glancing towards Eolas. He was sitting on the other side, just unemotionally staring into space. But when she spoke up, he had looked over with a curious expression.

"Are you a mind reader now?"

Eolas said with a slight attitude, ever since then he has been in a rather off-putting mood. From what he learned today, then it should put anybody in a bad mood. He hadn't even bothered to return to school, despite Mikoto doing so after the events this morning. Obviously his situation with school was no longer on his mind, despite telling his sister that he will give his answer before Thursday, which was the last day of school before winter break.

"Only when it comes to you. You don't want to admit it, but you want to understand why it happened. Your fed up with just guessing most of your life and you want to put an end to it. Look I understand what you trying to do here in Academy city, but don't you think its best to deal with the more personal issues first? Because if it wasn't for them, you would of never come to this city and the bad experiences in your life wouldn't of happened..."

Mikoto explained her opinion on it, this was something she was thinking about since hearing the conversation between him and his sister. Eolas wasn't sure how too respond to what she said and the other thing he do was to add something.

_"Neither the good experiences..."_

Eolas said in a low voice, Mikoto didn't hear what he said but she knew that he said something.

"Sorry?"

"Neither the good experiences would of happened. Like meeting you..."

He said that very naturally while watching what was on the television. He he had failed to notice Mikoto's reaction to his words, which surprisingly wasn't the normal overreaction you expect from Mikoto. She just sat there after briefly turning back to the tv with a smile. Silence fell between them and it wasn't due to they had nothing to say. They were happily watching tv together and it would be twenty minutes later until the subject would be brought back up.

Eolas briefly looked over to Mikoto who was currently changing the channel over, but she wasn't using the remote like anybody else would. One of her hairs on her head was sticking up and this isn't because she had untidy hair. It was because she was using her electrical powers to change the channel and that hair was like the antenna. Every-time she changed the channel, that single hair moved by dangling up and down. Eolas wasn't sure if she knew that was happening, but he found it rather amusing.

Despite what he had learned today, he always found it remarkable he can be at ease around Mikoto. Currently it feels like the morning's events never happened and but he still thought about what had happened. Because Mikoto was right... Eolas needed to know about his father's intentions, he wouldn't personally admit it to Mikoto or even his sister. But he was very curious and he can't help but know the reasons for various things in his life. And... Unlike his father, he doesn't intend to keep a certain knight bound to him until he dies. Eolas had all the intention to find a way to allow Lancelot to rest in piece. Even if that means finding the pieces of Avalon himself and going from there. But... all that would obviously require him to go to England.

And there was something that was holding him back.

"What's the matter?"

Mikoto said noticing that Eolas was looking towards her and she was curious what was on his mind. He was thinking about her safety more so then his own. Maybe he is just being paranoid but he feels something worse is going to happen if he leaves Academy city. Sure she is the third ranked level five and Tokiwadai's Ace. But still he couldn't help but feel worried if he did leave and it probably was just paranoia that isn't helped due to his nightmares. The memories of the what she has been through from the perspective of her sisters went through his mind and it only further pushed him to ask Mikoto one thing.

"Mikoto..."

He decided to us her actual name and not Miko-chan...

"If I decided to go to England... Do you want to come with me?

Subconsciously he had already decided, but would only go through with it if she decides to also come. He didn't expect her reaction, she was glowing with excitement and quickly nodded her head in agreement.

"Of course I wouldn't mind coming."

Some reason this made him wonder if she was expecting him to ask all day.

"What made you decide so quickly?"

Eolas had to ask and she answered quickly.

"What has happened with both of us, the level six project and the stuff with Michael. We both learned that taking problems on ourselves is just going to be more painful. I don't want to go through that struggle again and I don't want you either. And besides it will be fun? Wouldn't it? I always wanted to see England and from what you told me you never really experienced your home country. It would be a new experience for both of us."

He didn't know what to say, she looked way too caring and this just reminds him of before two years ago. She can be very shy about her intentions, but she sometimes do show it and it's always nice to see. Eolas thinks she looks far to cute when shes acts so nice.

"Are you actually sure? This would mean you be spending Christmas away from your family and in another country."

She nodded to confirm her intentions.

"It will be nice spend Christmas with you. We do have to make up for two years, don't we?"

That was kind of true, specially considering Eolas often made the pledge to make up for being away for last two years. I guess this would be a way, somehow and some way... He will make sure that this trip will be a fun one. He was hoping his business with his sister will no be dangerous. Considering her sister could put down the Stuart Branch families on her own, means that shouldn't really be an issue... But... Wait... Eolas suddenly thought why she need Index and Touma there?

...

...

...

"Can I come with you both?"

Suddenly Sarah appeared on the sofa without either Eolas and Mikoto noticing. This caught both of them off-guard, though Eolas should be use to it. She must of used her power to get in unnoticed. She even had her Lion plushie with her while looking at both Mikoto and Eolas.

"Wait Sarah why are you here? Shouldn't you be at home?"

Eolas had to ask and he was surprised to hear her response.

"I ran away... I just hate living there, I don't really get a long with the other kids... So I wanna stay here with you... Or... Just at least let me go with you!"

Eolas really didn't have a choice, there was no point in arguing with Sarah now. While Mikoto was talking with Sarah, Eolas went into the kitchen to ring up the orphanage Sarah lives. It was basically a place where other child errors stay. Upon ringing them up he found out that they didn't even realised that she was gone. Shouldn't they at least have checked on her? It would of taken her time to get here from her place. This alone made him decide to take matters in his own hands, he was happy to give Sarah her wish. Discussing with Mikoto, both of them agreed to take Sarah to England with them. It's not like they be completely alone, considering Touma and Index planned to go as well.

But when they come back from England... Eolas... ... He wasn't sure, but he try and find a better place for her to live. If she isn't getting along with the children at that place then there is no other reason to keep her there.

His mind was made up and there was one more person to bring with them. The next few days went by rather quickly without much incident. Eolas talked with his comrades that worked in the darkness of Academy city, informing him of his plan for the winter break. He intended to leave Misaki in charge, even if it means getting her involved again. But he learned that she was already out of Academy city. Apparently both Touma and Index had to leave sooner then expected. They had to go to France for some reason and she tagged along for some reason. They planned to meet up in England and their business in France is over. He heard that it was related to what caused the invasion of Academy city. So he can no choice but to leave a certain Italian in charge.

Other then his own business, Mikoto had to deal with Kuroko and her dorm advisor. She somehow managed to pull it off and it was easy to organise Sarah's travel. Though it did require some illegal documents, though thankfully it was something Eolas is familiar with.

So everything was good to go and on Friday the 17th of December, Eolas, Mikoto and Sarah all left for England.

* * *

**Author notes:** Finally the story moves forward, I think it's taken too long to move the story to is main setting. I guess I was too focused on creating the reason for them to go. Either way, next chapter we will be in merry old England. Amato is a future character, he doesn't really have a role for the rest of this story. But his apperance is foreshadowing for the future and Misaki's trip to france with Touma and Index is foreshadowing for a future side story.

I do have planned after all the stories are told which involve Eolas Stuart as the main character. To go back and tell what Misaki and Touma side to it. Because I do have stories to tell involving those two after they both first met and just before Touma loses his memories. So they have their own series of stories. Hopefully at least one of you will enjoy them long enough to experience them all.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter and look forward as the story kicks off in England.

**Chapter 7 - **Welcome to England


	7. Welcome to England

**"****Everything that exists is the seed of that which will be." -**** Marcus Aurelius**

**Chapter 7** - Welcome to England

Without fail during the trip Eolas had fallen asleep. It was at this moment that once again, that his nightmares returned. But this time, strangely enough it had finally changed. No longer did he find himself on a pile of rubble. Though it doesn't mean there wasn't any, in fact the moment he looked around he was just surrounded by rubble and the flames of battle had darkened the very skies. There was no signs of bodies, but he had found it strange there on the far left on top of the rubble was a familiar knight. It was Sir Lancelot who was looking towards the sky, trying to see what the knight was looking at had surprised him.

It was a small sphere of light, like a star in the night sky shining in the distance. It wasn't as high as the stars but far away in the distance.

'One... two... three... four...'

Those numbers echoed in his mind which promoted him to turn around to find three more star like objects in the sky. They were shining through the black smoke caused by the fire. They weren't together, but like they were appearing around him. If he could explain it that he was right in the middle of all four. Then suddenly something had started to shout loud...

"YOU UNGRATEFUL BOY! I WARNED YOU NOT TO COME TO ENGLAND! Now your friends will pay the price"

"Father?"

It was indeed the voice of his father that he could remember.

"Don't you dare call me father boy. You're nothing but an unwanted brat. If it wasn't for your mother, I would of killed long ago."

He couldn't explain it but he started to shake in fear from the sound of his father's voice. Some were deep down he knew that despite everything, he still just felt like a little boy when it comes to him. But despite his fear, Eolas' tendency to stand his ground shown. From his hand shaking in fear and then clenching into a first.

"You're dead... YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING ANYMORE!"

...

...

...

"And who the hell told you that?"

The voice of his father responded and suddenly like after he had just blinked. His father from what he remember so many years ago was standing right above him. He was extraordinary large man and very strangely kinda looks like him. They were father and son so obvious traits were going to be similar. And when he was just a small child, back then obviously all adults look liked giants. But his father took the cake, how he overshadowed him all the time. Looking down upon him like some curse rather then his son. It was horrible and it only made worse when his mother died. And he couldn't help but wonder... why did his father hated him so much? He was just a child... Why... just... why...

And while he wondered this under the shadow of his father, Eolas was suddenly stabbed in the chest with a mythical looking blade. He was stabbed by his own father to add insult to injury and the moment he was stabbed, Eolas had finally woken up...

He woken up in the air-plane where he had fallen to sleep, it was dark and a lot of the other passengers were also asleep. Turning to the right of him, to see both Mikoto and Sarah fast asleep together. It was rather cute to see them two together like that and oddly they both looked like sisters like that. Though it may be down to the clothes their both wearing, oddly similar and pink in a cute childish way. It's normal to see Sarah wear those type of clothes, but Mikoto Misaka is rarely not wearing her school uniform. It wasn't her fault and thats because of her schools strict rules. If he puts it correctly, this would be the first time he actually seen her out of her school uniform for nearly three years. It had occurred to him that her taste in clothes hasn't really changed since then, she still enjoys the cute look it seems. Seeing both of them asleep and well put Eolas at ease despite his new nightmare. Thinking about the trip they're on, he knew it was going to be a very long one, and he had made sure they were prepared for such a journey. They had the provisions and there was no need to worry about money. Other then the usual funds he had stored up, his sister organised a transfer to his account a wealthy share which was suitable for that of a Stuart family member. That is what she told him. Before Eolas had near enough nine hundred and fifty million yen in his account. This roughly accounts to six million pounds in English currency. So he never really had to worry about his situation, considering he was getting funds from various sources in the past and now due to deals in the darkness of Academy city. But this is what made him feel took the literal cake. The suitable funding a Stuart family member suppose to have roughly equals to near enough two hundred million pounds. That's roughly thirty one billion in yen and even Eolas was astound by this amount.

He never thought about it before, but if this to the Stuart family was walking around money. Then what was the total wealth of the Stuart family? How much power and wealth does his family have? He couldn't but help and wonder if they have the funding to equip a modern day army? Maybe even more...

But enough talk about money which he may some day inherit, there was something more on his mind. On the way to England it was rather strange and amusing. You see while hes the only one able to see Lancelot, he doesn't know why but he found it hilariously that a giant knight was standing between the seat rows. He tried his best to ensure he didn't laugh too much. Because Mikoto and Sarah was sleeping in the seats next to him. But this didn't last long, since the reality of this knight's situation became rather clear.

He found it sad that the mighty knight Lancelot looked lost while in this form. When he had a physical presence there was a sense of life and free will. But now that he is bound to him, it kind of feels that he'd taken another life's free will by force. It's not like he had any choice, the knight went after his friends and there is no imagining what damage he could of done to the city. So why does he feel so guilty? Was it just the hopeless and lost gaze of Lancelot.

He only blinked and the knight had turned to him, kind of creepy in fact the knight and he was staring intently in his direction. He then suddenly spoke to Eolas, it was fine because only Eolas can acknowledge his presence. Both of them were bound to spirit, but he never knew he can talk in this state.

_"Are you scared of your father?"_

A simple question which took Eolas by surprised. He was going to replay, but stopped before he did. Wouldn't it be strange to talk to himself?

_"It would be strange, just think your replay and I can hear it."_

He starting to find it rather strange that the knight from before which was fuelled with rage was actually talking to him calmly. But enough of that, Eolas had an obvious hunch that if this connection is what it's up to be then.

_"Just a question. Did you... just see my dream?"_

The knight just simply nodded to confirm what Eolas had said. This had only lead to more questions, but that was the extent of Lancelot's cooperative behaviour. It's strange he had seem so lost but in that moment, it was like he had a sense of curoisty. Strange from what he had heard, Lancelot only cared about the pieces of Avalon.

_'There is no way I have one of them in me. None of their effects have been present throughout my life. And Avalon's power is specially higher then any mortal power. The nature of those items are even more higher then divine objects. Avalon is like a pillar for the cycle of life and death. Even if Kamijou used his Imagine breaker on it. It would be impossible to negate as long death remains as a reality...'_

It took Eolas a while to notice what he said thought to himself.

_'Wait... how did I know that?'_

He shock his head in disbelief, to only notice that Lancelot's attention returned to him. Once again the knight seemed like a normal individual.

_"For a Stuart, you seem... lost..." _

This hit Eolas hard, because he found it rather ironic that he says that to him when Lancelot is the most lost character hes ever seen. His conversations with the knight would continue for the good portion of the trip, but he barely got anything useful out of the knight who seems to be avoiding answering his questions. When not dealing with the knight, Eolas tries his best to avoid going to sleep. He didn't want to experience his nightmare again for a while, it was different and for the first time he didn't know what to make of it. It was like his father's memory had come to like according to his decision to come back to England. The guy is dead and now suddenly he pops into his dreams?

He tried not to think about it for much longer and just like that for him. The plane journey was coming to an end. It was reaching 5pm in GMT time, kind of feels strange they spent most of the day on plane and in Academy city right now it would be the dead of night. Both Mikoto and Sarah started to fall asleep the normal time they do if they were in Academy city. It's going to be hard for them to adjust to the different timezone. But they'll mange somehow, the three of them were going to be here even after new years day.

He was going to try his best to make it a memorable holiday. He has to do something to make up the fact Mikoto is not with family this Christmas. While Sarah kind of considers him family, so going on this trip isn't taking her time from loved ones. But still when it comes to Mikoto, shes gone out of her way to come with him to England.

Remembering what she had said made him wonder.

...

_"What has happened with both of us, the level six project and the stuff with Michael. We both learned that taking problems on ourselves is just going to be more painful. I don't want to go through that struggle again and I don't want you either. And besides it will be fun? Wouldn't it? I always wanted to see England and from what you told me you never really experienced your home country. It would be a new experience for both of us."_

_..._

For the first time the shoe was on the other foot. Normally it felt like he was always the one who stood forward. Who knew what say and give the right advice. But that time it was completely different. But it was the next thing he remembered she saying after asking why, which felt like a gun shot to the chest.

_..._

_"It will be nice spend Christmas with you. We do have to make up for two years, don't we?"_

_..._

He even remembered the expression she had at that moment. It had struck up like he never had experienced, what the hell was this feeling? Was it his heart condition? He quickly took out his medication and ensured he had taken his dose. But the feeling remained and he wasn't sure how to explain it. Even Lancelot was looking at him strangely, making him think this was the knights doing.

He hadn't realised that a certain someone had awoken which will catch him by surprise.

"Eolas? What's the matter."

Mikoto had said softly like one from just waking up and she had touched him on the shoulder to make matters worse. Instantly causing his heart race even more. Making him panic and not really ensuring Mikoto's question.

"Nothing... just nothing!"

She noticed his panicking.

"Your reaction isn't really ensuring."

Mikoto said in response, not really letting up on Eolas. So he tried his best to counter her question with the first thing he thought about.

"Errr... You looked so cute when you woken up. I was taken by complete surprise."

This instantly caught her off-guard and she quickly returned to a state similar to that of a gentle kitten.

"Why did you say something like that so suddenly? Idiot."

This exchanged had calmed him down for some reason, well not exactly, it was the trick of the mind. He didn't realise the cause, but what he had said brought things on an even playing field. What a thing to do when she first wakes up? Though it's just the normal status flow between them recently, its come to teasing and playful gestures. Regardless their exchange had woken the young Sarah from her slumber, she was still sleeping in the seat between Mikoto and Eolas.

"What are you two doing in my room? Huh..."

She said obviously not noticing she was actually on the plane. It took a while for her to realise that she isn't in her room and suddenly panicked.

"Where are you taking me!"

Eolas looked outside the window and was able to answer.

"To England... We're here..."

Both Mikoto and Sarah tried to look outside the window. The sun was setting and it was getting dark quickly. From their window they could see the white cliffs of Dover. It was a remarkable sight and it for many people it's considered the gateway to England. For Eolas it was strange seeing it as for him it would be the first time since back then with his father, that he would be back in England.

...

...

...

**Outskirts of Buckingham Palace, England...**

After their failed attempt at bringing Touma, Index and Eolas to England a couple days ago. Kanzaki had already returned to England, and quickly the rumours of a certain erotic fallen angel maid had reached the country even before herself. You seem much more happened in the time between the confrontation with Eolas in Academy city and her being in England now. She had gotten advice to express thanks to a certain spiky hair boy and the result wasn't really what she expected.

Either way presently she was on the outskirts of Buckingham Palace. To her this was a rather unfamiliar place, you see this place housed the Royal Family. So it wasn't really a go to area for somebody who wasn't part of the Royals. Though despite not knowing much of this area, she didn't find it strange that the knights of England too had a strong influence here. I guess that is to be expected, they are in charge of protecting the status quo between the three factions. The Death of the Stuart Head is on the lips of many and the knights are probably out in force to stop any powerplay by factions within the Stuart family. Though it wasn't a grand secret that the knights and church had a grudge between them. Some say its down to jealously of the Church's growing power and that faction is headed by a certain Laura Stuart.

But she shouldn't really think much about it, being part of the church she did have a thought of being on guard around them. But there wasn't really any open hostility. Besides she had to this area to collect some important documents from the Ministry of Home Affairs which was near Buckingham Palace, but unexpectedly she walked into somebody very familiar.

It was the head of the Knights of England, Knight Leader.

Despite being in his mid thirties, he actually looked young compared to his actual age. His well kept blonde hair, looks, body build, the quality of the suit worn and even the way he walks and reacts echoes that of royalty. And it was very important to know that Kanzaki wasn't the best kind of girl to deal with knight leader. And it wasn't because he had the stench of being a aristocratic.

"As far as this month's events are concerned, be it the evening party at Windsor castle or the onboard party at Liverpool, the best would be Senator James's birthday party along with the ball at the Queen's house, I suppose. The guests can be rowdy, but to save the face of the guest of honour, there shouldn't be any men harassing women in secluded places. If something happened because of the party, it will bring disgrace to Senator James."

"Well, that, errr..."

She was holding on the large envelope containing the documents she was sent to get. She couldn't be help feel awkward in this situation. Seeing her expression had made the Knight leader frown slightly.

"Well there are many other high class invitations, but why does it feel that is not the case?"

"I'm glad you understand, firstly this kind of evening party or ball dance that you have mentioned is... feels like something like a date, right...? Somehow, as the leader of a group that's working under the Anglican Church, it's better for me to avoid this occasion..."

"However"

The Knight Leader interrupted.

"In the first place, weren't you the one who asked me to teach you British manners?"

"T-That..."

In the midst of the numerous people going back and forth from work and school, Kanzaki murmured something as she stood still.

Knight Leader put a puzzled expression on his face while watching this situation.

"I am sorry for delaying the meeting, but regarding that, I had to take care of it till the end, that is true. Certainly, please ask me about the mannerisms of the high-class society as much as you need to.

"N-no, that was when I came to England. Because of the Amakusa-Style's ceremonial methods, I had to learn the British etiquette and geography. Otherwise, I might not be able to fit into the high-class society."

Needless to say, with the help from a fellow Japanese, Tsuchimikado Motoharu, she not only already learned the basics of English, but also studied the dialects of various places in England. There was nothing she could learn from Knight Leader now.

"However, you actually don't appear much, be it at evening parties or balls. Perhaps it's because you don't do well with nobles?"

"... As a member of the Anglican Church, I don't feel a necessity to attend, let alone get familiar with them."

The Knight Leader looked closely at her expression and he had a strange feeling of what she was thinking.

"Is it because of the rumoured boy that popped up a month ago?"

This caught Kanzaki by surprised.

"Are you only bringing him up as you heard of him coming to England?"

Her reaction only made the Knight Leader tilt his head in response.

"Why no, that wasn't it at all, but it's good to see the boy return to the soil of his birth. But that wasn't never the actual case, Eolas Stuart was brought up because I heard about your first meeting with the boy. It didn't exactly go well I heard? Is that why you don't exactly deal with nobility that well?"

Kanzaki shock her head in response.

"That isn't it at all. And I didn't realise he was nobility."

"You didn't know? Well I guess you haven't heard the rumours about the Stuart family, but seeing that he is coming here. Why don't I give you some advice to deal with that boy?

He got closer and went to whisper these certain words...

_"If that boy has the same manners as myself, then a erotic maid would probably work on the boy."_

Hearing Knight Leader mutter those words had shocked Kanzaki deeply and she let out a ghostly breath.

"That isn't exactly the lady-like behaviour I hear you trying to behave."

"Hhhhoww you even know about that? Also even I know that isn't the conduct of a British gentleman."

"Well, as a British gentleman, it would be a lie if I were to say that I am not interested in erotica and maids... but a fallen angel is unacceptable. A lady's beauty must not be measured based on the bewitching exterior. Rather, it is the inner persona which must be beautiful-"

"Just stop right there. I have no intention wearing that stupid costume again in the future. Never... NEVER FOR NO ONE!"

...

...

...

Not far away from that very dangerous conversation, the third princess of England, Villian stood in a large room.

It was a large space and it was entirely her territory. Simply put, it was her own personal room. The royal family had constant political intrigue not just inside and outside of the country, but in their home as well. Her room was the sole safe place she could shut it all out and be alone in. That was entirely correct, not even the Stuart's long reach could reach into the confines on this room.

She recently had just gotten off the phone with Edinburgh airport. You see their was a terrorist incident about five days ago, the tunnel that lead to mainland Europe was blown up and torn down. Taking many British lives with the explosion and some still remained trapped there. But because of the head of Stuart families death. It was like she had been put on lock down. It was said for her own safety and that she shouldn't look into issues which could relate to the murder incident. It wasn't a secret that the intelligence agency was under the thumb of the Stuart family. She why did an attempt of the head's life fall through the net?

Villian couldn't but help wonder this along with what has been called a reactionary response to his death with terrorist activities. But she had a strange feeling that these attacks had nothing to do with the Stuart family or any of their branch families. Putting a logical thought on the whole thing, the attack on the tunnel happened roughly a day before his death. Why was it being considered a reactionary response a day before his death?

She couldn't but help feel annoyed from the whole situation.

The United Kingdom was a complicated nation.

It was made up of four cultures: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

It contained three factions: the Royal Family, the Knights, and the Anglican Church.

The strings between these two groups formed the United Kingdom. Of course, as the third princess, Villian was part of the royal family. Which you can only join by being a direct descendant or have close political ties with one of the members. The Royal family was the faction that represented the nation, but it had so much fewer members than the knights or the church.

Their duty was to intervene and seize control of the parliamentary government in order to take substantial control of the country. While the knights and the church worked in the shadow, the royal family had the most power in a public sense because it needed to be able to control the police and the military.

That being said, Third Princess Villian never had any real power.

The three daughters of the Queen of England had the following qualities:

The eldest daughter had intellect.

The second daughter had military might.

The third daughter had a natural benevolence.

In other words, despite Villian's popularity, she had no trump card with which to move the country. People may feel that when she takes an interest that she is only being worried about them, but nobody would go out of their way to commit their eternal loyalty to Villian.

Her benevolence did not give her no hold over the people's hearts and everything she committed too was just wasted effort. She was just a public image of the modern royal family. She was the one that many would love to marry, but that was simply her roll within the royal family. She was just a public imagine, the cloak over the truth.

She was a political tool used by her sisters and the Queen to gain the best treaty for her country. And when the country is in a crises, she would be married off in a political marriage.

Villian gave a heavy sigh in the large room.

The recent quarrel between England and France was enough to suggest the possibility of that terrible trump card.

Her thoughts were then cut off by a small knock.

"Lady Villian."

The person calling out to her form the other side of the thick door was a young maid. She was a civilian who knew nothing of magic. She choose not to use the royal maids that her siblings use.

"I been informed to tell you that the male Heir to the Stuart family; Eolas Stuart has arrived in England. The Queen has asked to you to become an acquaintance with the boy."

"Understood. Can you tell her that I'll try my best."

Even in her own room, she still had to be prepared to attend any of her duties. But this wasn't exactly something so had to attend straight away. Which allowed her to take a deep breath considering what she had to do. Despite the trouble with France, this could be a problem closer to home. She knew very well about the power and influence of the Stuart family. It wouldn't be far from the Queen's mind to bring that influence into the Royal family. Despite knowing a lot about the Stuart, she didn't know much about this boy. She knew that he was exiled by his father, but was granted return upon his death.

Both actions were approved by the Queen's decision. Just showing you the influence the Stuart family had over the Royal family. When she thought about it, the strings that held the United Kingdom together could be the Stuart family itself. She has always been worried about their influence, but her sisters and the Queen accept it as the normality of the country's workings. But it doesn't mean they wouldn't stop trying to assimilate their power. She didn't want anything to do with the family, but she really didn't have any choice. She had to make contact with this boy; Eolas Stuart.

...

...

...

Eolas, Mikoto and Sarah had taken a very long trip from he airport they landed at to reach London. He was told by his sister to meet her at the Stuart manor, but he honestly didn't want to go there. Despite Laura making it seem like a priority. He had hopped to make it clear when he wrestled those apparent aids of the Stuart family at the airport. First time in over ten years since he stepped foot in England and the first thing he did was beat up some butlers who were trying to force him to go.

It sound wrong of him doing it...

And Mikoto and Sarah was rather confused why he did it...

But he had not intention of following his sister's words to the letter...

But it seem that once again they waited for him at his destination. They were heading to a hotel in central London and somehow the supposed Stuart family aids had found out. This time he stood there and listened to what they had said. It seems that they was just repeating what he had heard before. That he should ignore what others tell him and head to the manor straight away. That message really piped his curiosity, but he promised not to attack them. Even though they all could take it from the looks of it. He can feel it, but each of these aids were magicians.

The first time they annoyed Eolas by being too pushy with their direction, but this time they had pissed Mikoto off. In their attempt to convince Eolas, two of the aids couldn't but help comment on Mikoto's clothes and the plushie she had in her hand. Which was due to Sarah also having her lion plushie out. But they started to make fun of Mikoto's tastes and it wasn't like they were discreet about it.

"Eolas... I'm sorry you can do what you please."

This direction caught the aids off guard. They reacted like this situation was normal, but Eolas didn't care he was too happy but to give these pushy people a lesson. This entire situation was just a show of dominance anyway. Laura wants to show that shes the actual head by showing that she can give orders to Eolas. While he didn't actually care about all that, he once again didn't like being order because of vanity. The aids were rather snappy dressed he had remarked.

They do look like butlers or bodyguards. Even still... there was eight of them at the location and they were trying to convince their new master to follow his sister's request. But shortly after Mikoto gave him permission, he instantly went on the offensive. Though he didn't actually moved, he just stood there while his telekinesis did the work for him. It was a rather amusing display, these aids really didn't count on Eolas' telekinetic power. He was forcing one of them to fight the others. He figured they were magicians, but he was going to deal with them before they can react with magic.

What was so amusing is that the aid being controlled by his telekinesis was fighting quickly and in the same style he would if he fought personally. The other aids really didn't stand a chance, Eolas' fighting style which he forced the control aid to use was pretty good at taking targets down quickly. He then kept the last aid in place standing just in case. It was important to note that he was forcefully controlling one aid against his will while also holding up everybody luggage with his telekinesis. They literally stood no chance, sadly he hadn't know that they couldn't lay a finger on Eolas anyway. So it was a one sided beat down.

"Why is this happening"

Mikoto said who understood what she getting into when coming to England. She got the idea from a few days ago and has been explained to her many times by Eolas.

"A game of whos the King of the Jungle. But I don't get it, she made it sound like she wanted to be on equal level. Either this was her intention all along, or that she thinks somebody is going to get to me before we meet up."

After he tried to explain the situation, Eolas hit the aid he had controlled with chop at the back of his neck. Instantly knocking the guy out and he slowly fell onto the floor as the telekinetic grip faded from the aid. But what replaced their sight was something neither of them expected. It was a women who seemed to be in her 20s and with blonde hair. She was wearing a red dress composed of bright red leather which honestly gives off a bondage vibe. But what overpowered that vibe was the sense of nobility and Sarah seemed to be the one who know the identity of this women.

"It's Princess Carissa. She looks so cute..."

Cute may not be the right world, but they weren't exactly thinking about that.

Eolas, Mikoto and Sarah weren't exactly more then forty minutes away from the nearby palace. But the first thing that came to their mind is why the hell is a princess doing here. She seemed to be unmoved from Sarah's comments, she had a very serious look on her face and it was directed towards Eolas.

"Erm... Princess?"

"So the reports were true. You have telekinetic powers and pretty powerful one if you can force somebody to move like that in such a fluid manner. I can tell from your actions that you have no intention follow blind orders. So the intention I had really isn't going to work? Wouldn't it? Eolas Stuart? Makes me wonder why your sister didn't come out to get you."

Eolas was rather annoyed that somebody just popped up and called him out. He hasn't been in England for long and already he's gaining attention.

"No I wouldn't. Even if you're truly one of the three princesses. May I ask how did you know who I am?"

"Please. Anybody who is worth their two salts know the members of the Stuart family. You the exiled son has returned to claim his right as head of house? Regardless there is no more reason to be here. Good night Eolas Stuart... And by the way... Welcome to England..."

* * *

**Author notes**: A certain level five truly hates to be told what to do. (teenager rebellion) Yet he is obviously whipped by Mikoto Misaka. Misaki so called that from the last story. Also you may notice some familiar scenes from Volume 17 of the light novel. While there is so credibly similar scenes, they are altered to show the difference of events. The whole terrorist activities had briefly been pointed towards France, like it had in the light novel. But it was also being mixed up in the confusion of the Stuart Family head's death. Which is resulting in the different cause of events leading to the English civil war. Also the relationship of the factions aren't entirely the same. obviously in my version of this world, Stuart family has more clout then the original.

So the importance of trying to marry the third princess to Eolas is an actual goal. The royal family would grow more powerful in the shadows of the country instead of just power in a public sense. I feel sorry for Villian, she may be forced to marry somebody much younger then herself.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter and as the last words from a certain princess said. Welcome to England... It's going to be one wild ride and I hope you enjoy it.

Next time... **Chapter 8** - On my Terms


	8. The Meeting (1)

**Chapter 8** - The Meeting

"So shes one of the princesses of England?"

Mikoto asked who seemed more worried then excited to meet royalty. Though it's probably because Sarah was clearly delighted to see somebody of royalty. It's like she was hogging all the excitement to herself and nodded in response with a cheerful glee to Mikoto's question. Eolas was watching the princess leave with a curious expression and for two reasons. Her interest in him was a bit worrying, royalty doesn't exactly come out to greet just anybody for no reason. Though he thinks 'anybody' loosely. In British political scene, hes not much of a determining factor. Even being a Stuart he will not have much influence for being out of the country most of his life. He has no home grown support, unless what his sister said is true.

_..._

_"You see we aren't that different. We have the same thoughts on this matter, I don't really have the heart to fight my cute little brother. Besides as I was saying, this is probably the very same reason he got murdered. **Four of the branch families still support you** to lead the main house and your activities a month ago being advertised around the would probably sparked it. "_

_..._

The other reason was Lancelot's reaction to the princess' presence. While his ability to sense pieces of avalon is tremendously weakened. The knight had a very strong interested in her more then he has seen so far. Maybe it's just nothing, but hes starting to think that Princess Carissa may hold a piece of Avalon. That was defiantly something to keep note of for later.

"I really don't like the expression she just had."

Mikoto said catching Eolas' attention.

"What do you mean?"

Eolas had to asked.

"Well she had that same look which you have sometimes. You know when you ready for a fight to the death."

Mikoto explained making a comparison to the events a month ago. She didn't go to far into it, but she remember the look on Eolas' face when he was facing Michael down. When he had completed lost it to his anger. That expression that he had was very familiar to what the princess had just shown.

"Then I guess we have no choice."

Said in response to Mikoto's concerns. Along with what he was thinking about the princess, he knew that there was only one option to take now. He knelt down to one of the aids he had knocked out and looked for a communication talisman. Finding one which is a surprise as it was just a hunch. He remember what index had taught him and activated it... And a similar sounding voice emerged from the talisman.

"You on your way with my brother?"

The voice belong to Laura Stuart and once again she was going to be surprised about the response.

"You really need to understand that I hate being told what to do."

Eolas said and the sound of Laura once again falling off her chair and trying to hurry getting up.

"Don't tell me you killed our aids?"

"No... I don't do that... now. Just listen. What the hell is going on, this maybe the first time being back here for nearly ten years. But even I know that a princess doesn't just go out of their way to meet anybody."

Laura's response was rather quick.

"You not just anybody though. Look it's not best to talk where you are right now. Just be careful of who you trust, and just so you know your other friends are meeting with the royal family right now."

The talisman went dead shortly after Laura's words. Mikoto responded shortly...

"Other friends? Did she mean Touma and Index?"

"Also Misaki."

Eolas confirmed, he had known this from quickly checking his phone. Message from Misaki says she was in England with the Nun and Touma. Turning back to Mikoto and Sarah had be something he hoped he never did. You see the reason for that was because a certain electrical princess was rather annoyed. It wasn't really hard to guess why, but Eolas didn't realise his mistake until Mikoto mentions it.

"Look how easy it was for you to call her Misaki."

Eolas started to feel scared after finally realising what he had just did.

"Look... Mikoto..."

Suddenly Eolas was shocked by Mikoto's electricity out of frustration. and she

"CALLING ME BY MY FIRST NAME ISN'T GOING TO HELP NOW! YOU COULDN'T DO IT SINCE YOU ASKED ME TO COME WITH YOU TO ENGLAND! IDIOT! I JUST DON'T KNOW WHERE I STAND WITH YOU SOMETIMES!"

Eolas feel to the ground shortly after Mikoto's outburst. He looked just as beat up as the Stuart aids and that wasn't the end of it. Mikoto grabbed Eolas's shirt and pulled him towards the hotel's door. She literally chucked him towards it and ordered him to make sure the rooms are ready. Eolas quickly complied like a defeated animal and rushed into the hotel mostly to save his life. When he did Mikoto took a deep breath, which was followed by Sarah's chuckling.

"You both always seem to have so much fun."

Mikoto looked at her with a confused expressed. She wondered if any of what just happened was fun at all. It didn't take long for her and Sarah to bring the luggage into the hotel building. Specially considering Sarah's ability was remarkably near the level of Kuroko's teleporting ability. The problem was though she had some limitations and she can't send objects through teleportation without going with them. Where kuroko could send items via with a touch and still remain in her position. Though oddly enough despite her limitations, Sarah actually enjoyed doing the work of moving the luggage. Mikoto was rather amused from Sarah's expression who always leapt on the next bag to teleport inside. Noting that Sarah can easily be amused.

When they were done, Eolas had finished checking on the booked rooms. He walked over to Mikoto and Sarah to once again meet an annoyed Mikoto. Was she still annoyed about how easy he found it to call Misaki by her first name? He wasn't sure but after taking the room keys from him, what she said after had surprised him.

"Look. We both know what you need to do. Just make sure you come back, but feel free to leave your Misaki there while you at it."

Yeah she was still annoyed, that is what Eolas had thought. But he was surprised by Mikoto's support of what he was thinking about doing. Hearing that they had gone to meet the royal family took him by surprise. Something is up and he couldn't but help to wander if this is about his father's death or the pieces of Avalon. He did have a sneaky feeling that princess may have one herself.

"Go on then. Before I change my mind, it would also allow us girls to get settled in the room."

After hearing Mikoto expressing her wishes, Eolas left after saying good night to Sarah. Knowing that little girl, she would of fallen asleep by the time he will get back. It's not like the place hes heading is far, actually they're rather close to the palace. But he doesn't have any intention for messing around. He's going to ensure everything OK and secretly he has the desire to find out what's going on. Even if he has to sneak into the palace himself.

...

...

...

Something was strange going on, it wasn't because a certain spiky haired boy would find himself inside the palace of the royal family of England. It was because no one, not two but apparently three princesses were here because of him and Index. But what further had caught his surprise was that he also was going to see the Queen. Sure he had help to stop some terrorist attacks earlier in the day, but he didn't expect this sort of reception. Though it wasn't really about him anyway, they really wanted to see Index. There was a belief that all these terrorist attacks were done by magical means, and more importantly was the origin of these attacks. Index should be able to identify them easily with her vast collection of 103,000 magical books known as grimoies.

Shokuhou Misaki was told to wait in one of the many dining rooms in Buckingham palace. She was invited to join after convincing many she was also one of Index's mangers. Which is mainly the sole reason Touma was joining the meeting in the first place.

He was waiting in the designated meeting room with Index, it wasn't the largest of rooms compared to what hes seen so far in Buckingham palace. But it was just as elegant as any other, the table he was sitting at was easily royal in design. It would fit no where else other then a royal palace like this one. With both of them was Kanzaki who brought them here in the first place. And some other individual who was refereed to as the knight leader. Apparently he was in charge of the faction known as the English knights. He was kind enough to help sort Index's hunger problem with some scones. Though he be lying if he said he didn't enjoy it either. They were pretty delicious and made him wonder of the luck royalty have to enjoy something so great. Other then that he remember what was going to happen in this very room.

_..._

_"Something like a strategy meeting is about to be held. Members of the royal family, the knights, and the church have gathered here for it. However, the top members of the royal family – that is, those who have royal blood – are present, so it is officially an audience."_

_..._

The strategy meeting was about what had happened with the Eurotunnel and the situation with the Stuart family. Firstly the Eurotunnel connecting Great Britian with France was bombed by someone. All of the tunnels were hit. And because of it it has had a devastating effect on the economy. Because of the delayed transport of personnel and goods. Again it was believed to be a magical attack and that also means it was done on a national level. This was a meeting to decided the response England would take to that situation. But that also leads to the second issue the Stuart family. While none of the actual members were to take part in the meeting, there was fear that the recent attacks was due to infighting within the Stuart family. The Queen knew very well of what could happen in a Stuart family dispute. She was around when the recently deceased head of the Stuart family fought for control.

Speaking of the Queen. She was the first to join the others, the Knight leader made sure she was presentable before they even entered the room. Making her to leave briefly to get change, while Touma couldn't understand English very well. But she was in a tracksuit and wasn't really what you called an elegance of a queen which you expect. But now that wasn't the case.

The Queen of England. Elizard was around fifty years old. Her hair and skin was beginning to show the signs of age, but in a strange way she still outdid many teenagers like Kamijou. Unlike what she was wearing before, she know wore a long dess that covered even the tips of her toes. The dress was white and black and it looked so expensive that Touma would probably have to work all his life to even pay the cleaning costs.

The was also something to note and that was Queen Elizard's right hand

She was holding a sword. It looked like a typical double sided western sword, but the strange thing about it that there was no tip and no blade. It looked like a long square board was attached to the hilt.

The Queen looked like a model English lady as expected and yet she was walking around with a sword out not even thinking about putting it away. Touma couldn't but help to comment on what he was seeing.

"When it comes to gaining a sense of identity, you are one person who has acquired it rather easily."

"No, that is normal! The electric guitar, the soccer ball, the cup-and-ball game, the surfboard, and all the other unneeded tools have been taken away! You may not be familiar with it, but that sword is the symbol of Queen Elizard!"

The Knight leader said while hiding his head in shame like he was remembering something terrifying. While on the flip side, the queen was smiling.

"This sword is exclusive to the royal family known as the Curtana."

"Curtana?"

Touma asked with a curious expression. Though kinda expecting something from the Queen, the knight leader responded before she could.

"It is a sacred sword that is passed down generation by generation to each head of state. Following that sword's history would be the same as understanding the history of the English royal family."

"You are making too much of it. I admit that it is a useful tool, but the royal family would not be destroyed if it were to be broken."

Elizard stated her opinion on the worth of her blade. It didn't take her long to continue talking about it, much to some's belief.

"The Curtana is a ceremonial sword used in the coronation of the king or queen. It is not the sign of being the queen, but the proof of being the person who chooses the ruler. As you can see, it has no blade and its tip is flat, so there is no danger in letting it hang down."

"It may seem strange to you, but it would be a great help if you look past these culture differences."

The Knight leader said shortly after the Queen finished explaining. Talk about the blade would continue for a while, when the Knight Leader whispered to Kanzaki about the blade. She explains the power of the blade can provide it's own with the same type of power like that of the Angel Michael. The Leader of angels. The topic of that had stired both Touma and Index who the later explained to Touma that Michael was the most powerful of the angels. But there was much more to it then that. Which looking towards the Queen the answer shortly followed.

"However, it can only be used within the boundaries of the United Kingdom. Basically the Curtana is a sword that provides a large amount of Telesma to the queen and the knights."

The Queen explains bluntly.

"Basically, there is a special rule that only take affect within the four cultures of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland and the three factions of the royal family, the knights, and the Anglican Church exist to enforce that rule. The Curtana functions as a sword that provides great power to those who enforce that rule and protect the United Kingdom."

"A special rule…?"

Touma asked which the Knight leader once again decided to answer in the Queen's place.

"The Anglican Church is a Christian Church original to this country. Henry VIII, a king in the 1500's, created it because he hated having other countries interfering with the governing of his own country. In order to get rid of all external influence, he made sure of two points when he created it. The first was that the country would never be violated by foreign influences and the second was that the King of England would be at the top of the Anglican Church and that the king did not have to listen to what the Roman Catholic Pope said."

The sound of the door opening and was followed by a voice

"But the only thing that truly happened was that King Henry VIII traded being influenced by a Pope in distant country, to one with just as much influence much closer at home. The sad truth of it all is that the sword once ws held by the Stuart family."

The name was easily recognisable to Touma. He knew that they were referring to Eolas' family, but still being brought up in this situation only shows you how long and far reaching their hold has been on this land.

It was the voice of a beautiful women that was in her early 30's, she entered dressed just as elegant and luxurious as the queen. It was mostly blue, but her skirt did not spread out. She had an intellectual look to her and that was probably down to the monocle and her rather confident appearance. She seemed odd by was rather graceful at the same time.

Kanzaki had come over to Touma noticing his confusion. She whispered to him that this was the first princess of England. Rimea.

The knight leader seem annoyed that the princess had arrived without any type of aide.

"If you only had informed me, I could of sent one of my men... wait... no... In fact I could of gone myself to get you."

"You do know that I can't have others accompanying me. That just adds to the risk of being stabbed in the back. I don't have the intention of putting my trust in those who know me."

The princess responded.

"..."

Telling from the reaction in the room, it became rather clear that her distrust was very common. But her presense would be soon follow by another.

"I see you're still as gloomy as ever, my sister."

None of them knew about it, but this was the same princess who had met with Eolas Stuart not too long ago. The difference from then is that now she had two knights companying her to the room. She continued to tease her sister about her depressing nature before vaguely turning her attention to Touma.

"I am the second princess, Carissa. "

Before she could say anything more, somebody else had entered the room. She also was wearing a dress, but it was mostly green. She was the third princess Villian. Unlike the others she had the most stereotypical appearance which you expect of a princess. But it was this which really didn't make her stand out compared to her siblings and mother. She wouldn't say anything in response to Carissa who seemed surprised to see her in the room.

"She is my younger sister, the third princess. Boring, isn't she?"

Carissa teased, who seemed to treat both her sisters the same way. Upon their arrival, the Queen stood up to declare the start of the strategy meeting. Touma couldn't help but feel really out of place in this situation. He was in the presence of royalty and what some would call proper people of high society. Never in his dreams would he thought to be in this situation. But here right not, that was the case. He seemed to be worried about the few people in this meeting though, if it was such an important meeting you expect more then what are currently present. He had expected some sort of audience of some kind. And couldn't but help wondered if somebody was being left out. Which the queen was happy enough to make clear.

"As long as we have a representative from the royal family, the knights, and the church, then it's fine. I don't like that the head of the Anglican Church, the one who summoned Index Librorum Prohibitorum, isn't here, but I suppose it's fine since we have a Saint here in her place."

She refereed to Kanzaki, who in turn felt the need to comment on the issue of her missing Archbishop.

"I.. I'm really sorry. It seem our Archbishop had other pressuring concerns as you all can imagine. But she is currently acting behind the scenes like normal."

"Oh we all can imagine. If we to assume what some of us are thinking, this entire situation we find ourselves in could be the fault of the Archbishop's family. Truly her absence could be a sign of guilt?"

The first princess commented in response, but it was followed by the second princess Carissa's words.

"I'm pretty sure that it's not a sign of guilt. The Stuarts seem to be in a state of confusion from what I seen. I had just met the recently return son not long ago. I had found him taking out aids belonging in service to the Stuart family. While it's based on what I've seen, it seems the Stuarts are already fighting?"

The news of meeting the returned son of the Stuart family was highly noted by many in the room. Except for Touma and Index who stared blankly. Neither of them understand the situation properly when it comes to that family. The third princess was the most interested in what was said, very start contrast of expression from what she had before when entering the room. She was thinking about what type of person this Stuart was but she did expect an manipulative individual. That was common from what she heard about that family. The Queen wasn't really sure how to react to the possibility the siblings were fighting. She knew from first end how those can turn out, it could distablise the country and make it's position even worse. But she wasn't going to jump to conclusions until she knew the full truth.

"So he and the others made it here safe?"

Touma commented upon hearing about Eolas. Touma had noticed the third princess' reaction but he also seen it died down to what it was when she entered the room. She seemed sorry for some reason. While on the other hands Carissa was looking towards him and spoke.

"By the way, the representatives of the three factions are fine, but what is up with this boy?If he's going to be in the meeting, I'd like to know what his position is."

Clearly she didn't care for individuals who weren't needed and rather those type of people stayed out of the meeting. But the Queen was happy to stand in defence of Touma.

"He is the brave boy who saved the lives of our people and protected our national interests in his unpaid efforts to eliminate the French terrorists who attempted to hijack a passenger plane. In recognition of his achievement and experience, I am willing to listen to his opinion."

The discuss of the room turned to the apparent French terrorist and quickly it was noted there was a differing in opinion regarding the intention behind the attacks. The first princess feels the Stuarts have a hand in these events, while the second feel it was just France and other European countries under influence of catholic church was trying to undermined England. The discussion soon came to end and it was decided to more to a more comfortable room then the one they were currently using to talk. With the Queen leading the way, they left the room one by one but there journey quickly came to an halt as the queen met someone she didn't expect.

"Ah, I see you had gotten the message."

The second princess had pointed out after noticing why the Queen had stopped walking. The person in front of them was none other then Eolas Stuart, who seemed to literally walked into the palace. Though it was important to note that there was no defences in this palace. Unlike Windsor castle this place was for meetings and national visits. Which the other was literally built to withstand a siege.

Eolas Stuart was slightly shocked from seeing them in the hallway, from where he was standing he seemed to be in a good location to eavesdrop on the meeting. But from the fact he was eating a scone, with one maid standing right next to him. It was easily explained why he hadn't noticed them leaving. Touma didn't blame him for it considering he knew how tasty those scones where.

After finishing from what he was eating, Eolas took a graceful bow fitting of a British noble.

"It's an honour to meet you all. I'm sorry but it seems, I'd been invited here. As the second princess clearly mentioned."

Though in truth there was no actual invitation. The second princess for some reason made it up, and Eolas just played along for the sake of it. But that wasn't important right now, the expression on the young Stuart's face told the Queen everything.

"Hey Index, Touma and Kanzaki. And nice sword, majesty"

Eolas said casually, which was met by mixed stare from the others. The First princess was worried seeing a Stuart right in front of herself. The Second princess had a rather crafty expression which seemed to go unnoticed by everybody except for Eolas. The Third princess was given him a timid look which only made him seem confused. Kanzaki looked worried but his appearance but not as bad the first princess seemed. The Knight leader seemed rather curious to see the boy here. The Queen was the actual one to give an honest smile, though it wasn't sure if its due to what she thinks about the boy or due to his comment about the sword she held.

"I see. You should join us young Stuart, it's been some time since you been in this country."

The queen said, though amusingly it sounded more like an order then just asking.

* * *

**Author notes**: Not much to say other then, the chapter title is different as I decided to switch some order of events around. Once again there is some familiar scenes from the light novel with notable differences to reflect this version of the world. Especially the princesses view on the terrorist incidents. Anyway hoped you enjoy as the second part of this meeting continues in the next chapter.


	9. The Meeting (2)

**Chapter 9** - The Meeting (2)

It's been a while since Eolas had left to find out what was going on. The aids of the Stuart family had dispersed from in front of the hotel. Though unknown to Mikoto and Sarah, there was various Necessarius agents outside and they didn't actually pose any threat. It was like they were watching any of those who enter the building, unknowingly they were sent by Laura Stuart to make sure no attempt of terrorist activities will be tempted on Eolas or his comrades.

Without knowing the protection was sent to protect them, despite Mikoto probably not needing it. Both of the girls had already taken a bath, which they found out was rather different compared to those back home. Mikoto was helping Sarah with her hair. While she was doing that Sarah was playing with her plushie. But despite this she seemed down which Mikoto took notice.

"What's the matter Sarah? Why do you suddenly look bothered?"

Sarah slowly poked the nose of her toy lion, she then begun stroking the lion as if it was actually alive and injured.

"... He seems bothered..."

Mikoto wasn't sure who she meant, how she was acting with the lion toy. But she wasn't blind to see who she truly meant.

"Hey Sarah... do you hate him? For what happened to your brother..?"

Mikoto asked a very touchy question, but it had to be asked. It was best if it came from someone else then Eolas himself. Who really doesn't know how to handle the situation. Mikoto knew personally about Eolas' feelings about it. So she was thinking it be good to understand Sarah's view, because she was obviously effected by it. The young girl's feelings on the matter was obvious as she struggles to answer the question. But she soon shock her head in disagreement and shouted in frustration.

"N-no...NO! I understand why it happened!"

Sarah quickly fell silent again and Mikoto returned to brushing her hair before responding to Sarah.

"You do know that he's worried about you? He wants to do anything he can to make you have a better life."

Upon hearing this Sarah had stopped stroking her toy lion. She was effected about what Mikoto had said, and it wouldn't take long to hear a response.

"Why does he act that everything is fine. When he is clearly suffering..."

Sarah said in a low voice, these words only sparked memories for Mikoto who remembered the many times she had gotten this feeling from him. Specially two years ago when she last saw him. Even though she know understands the reason behind the painful look back then. She still hates that memory. She never want it to recur for Eolas ever again. So she understood exactly how Sarah was feeling, and she had an idea where shes getting it from. Out of everything Eolas knew, Mikoto and Sarah are the ones who spent the most time with him this past month. Both of them have seen him fallen asleep and seen him struggle while sleeping. Most recently for Sarah was when they went to Kyoto. And for Mikoto when she first tried to make breakfast for him. She had heard him waking up from a nightmare...

She remembered what he had shouted out that morning.

_..._

_"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"_

...

While Sarah clearly sees this as a more pressing issue. For not understanding the situation as much as Mikoto would. It was obvious that the nightmares was distress and pressure from recent events. Also the plans hes trying to set in motion. Not only that, the news of his father's death haven't helped matters. In fact Mikoto feels he is under much more pressure to do something. There were few people in the world that see Eolas as a normal boy. Most people saw him as a monster, weapon of war and they either fear him or just want to use him. For most of his life it's been him versus the world. So he finds it hard to confine with others. Other then Mikoto and Misaki there was barely anybody else. But even with those two, he still finds it hard sometimes. The fact he hasn't really talked about his nightmares was either proof of it, or that the nightmares weren't really concerning to him. But the fact they keep happening most of the time he falls asleep. It's starting to become increasingly evident that it is a problem.

Sarah started to continue from earlier.

"He keeps want to help me with my problems. But why doesn't he allow me to help him? I know I'm only a chil..."

Mikoto interrupted her because she had heard enough. She had stopped brushing Sarah's hair moments before and instantly hugged her from behind to comfort the young girl.

"That not it at all. Boys like him have the tendency to take on more then they can handle. Specially those who have the power to make a difference..."

That moment she was thinking of both Eolas and Touma.

"He... Well we feel that we can take on the burdens because we have powers that few posses. And when we create a problem. We try and clear it up on our own. Even if it's more then we can handle, we don't turn to our love ones. Because the most frightening thing we can experience is to involve our loved ones in dangers that we face on our level of power. So we try and do it on our own..."

This conversation had made her think back right to the time, she had given away access to her DNA map which not only lead to the Sisters project. But also the apparent project Imperator that she heard about from Eolas. The memories of the suffering she witnessed by her sisters, the events both she and Eolas had to go through. Both of them tried to solve their own mistakes on their own. And it nearly destroyed them both...

Then she remembered the time that Touma showed up on the certain Ironway bridge. And she learned to sometimes count on others for help. This event in her life had taught her that lesson the hard way, but it allowed her to do something in the future. You see if she didn't learn that lesson, then she wouldn't be able to help Eolas in the same way on that same bridge. That time was only a month ago, when both she and Eolas faced down the powerful Rensa known as Michael...

"But he has learned the hard way, that you can't do everything on your own. But you should know that boy is far too proud to ask for help... But you know Sarah, there is a way to help him. This isn't exactly just a trip to visit a distant country. The real reason why we both here is to actually support him as he deal with his family issues. Because he really didn't have the courage to come here on his own. He wouldn't admit it, but if he sees you actually enjoying yourself on this trip. You may not understand it but it would actually help him a whole lot more then personally getting involved..."

Mikoto didn't really know if her words would help calm the young girl's feelings on the matter. But she would soon find out from Sarah's reaction. It didn't take long after Mikoto finished talking were Sarah lifted up her Lion plushie in response.

"I'm going to call him Eolas. Eolas the Lion because he is fierce, proud and also cuddly."

Sarah said suddenly with a smile who'd also hugged her toy. Happy to see that she understood what she was trying to say. Mikoto returned to brushing Sarah's hair before finally responding on the issue one more time.

"That's the spirit."

_..._

_..._

_..._

Meanwhile back at the Palace...

"So what are you? Another Representative for the Anglican church?"

The second princess amusingly asked, but Eolas nods his head in disagreement. They were both walking behind the others towards another location, which apparently would be more comfortable then where the others first met. This would require all of them to climb up from the 1st floor to the third one. On the way, both eolas and the second princess continue to pass the time with a short talk.

"I don't represent the Anglican church, that is Kanzaki's job and she would always be a far better representative as I have no interest in 'churches'."

Despite being behind everybody except for the second princess who was walking at his pace. It was very easy to tell that the others were listening on him and the Carissa talk. Well except Index and Touma who seemed to found a way to hold onto some scones. Though it was to be unexpected, the reaction the others took apparently to the Queen ordering a Stuart was strange site to see. While Eolas simply complied like one would with their ruler, the princesses, Knight leader and Kanzaki was rather surprise by the Queen's tone. This made him wondered about the relationship they had with his other family members. There was so much he didn't know how things are viewed in this country.

"Oh you have no interest? Isn't that were your family wanted to focus their influence recently?"

"I wouldn't really know, you do remember that I had been exiled from this country for the past eleven years? But if you're that curious about my thoughts on it. I don't like 'churches' as they normally accompanied by bad memories and with all the imagines of angels an saints. It's so tacky... No offence Kanzaki."

Kanzaki didn't respond verbally nor physically, but somehow Eolas knew he was getting the evils right about now. And it wasn't from the princess who is taking an odd interest in him. Carissa really wanted to probe further in Eolas' dislike of churches. But this was delayed by the very fact they had reach their destination. They had arrived at what seems like a reception area. It was elegant and gave that royal feeling like every other room, the sofas looked rather comfortable which most of them seem to find out. Only Kanzaki, the knight leader and Eolas were left standing on various sides of the room.

Touma had noticed that Eolas seemed rather relaxed, sometimes he wonders how he can do that. While it seems the others were content with his presence. He was still what you call a trespasser and he had gotten so close to the meeting without anybody causing alarm. Wait... Touma remembered that apparently the second princess had invited him earlier. But something really didn't make sense to him, the second princess really didn't show any indication that he or at least somebody else was showing up. Wouldn't they of waited from starting until everybody arrived? The Queen thought everybody was here, so if her invitation was true then why didn't she inform the Queen? Touma knew something was going on, but he couldn't put his finger on what exactly was happening. Though considering the people he was with at the moment, most of them was British nobility, and even it was suggested that Eolas had noble blood. Maybe this is just how noble people act. Kanzaki was kind of nobility in her own way, while not exactly having blue blood she is treated in a similar way with certain groups. After all she is one of less then twenty Saints in the world and Index... well... she was very special in her own right. The holder of over hundred thousand forbidden books, she was a walking, talking and very hungry library. So much for Touma's bad luck her hunger wasn't for knowledge.

Among all these people, Touma couldn't but help feel out of place. Other then his right hand, there was nothing special about him. Also being in a room full of princesses, a Queen, Knight and a Saint made him doubt that his was really a 21st century society. He shouldn't really think about it much, compared to the standards of Academy city everything does seem stuck in the past. This was making him feel uncomfortable and out of habit he retreated to his phone, this showed his very naivety when around royalty. You see it was like protocol for them whenever they see a camera and the phone did have a camera on it. And it wouldn't be too long before the princesses started to swarm around Touma, who thought he wanted to take a picture. It wasn't even long before the Queen wanted to join in, but in a rather amusing appearance the knight leader had enough and stopped her by a full force tackle.

Eolas was dumbfounded by this display, never would he thought somebody would stop the head of a country by a tackle. The knight light must be a very particular man. But even with that display, the princesses wanted Touma to continue with the picture. With the sound of a small electronic noise brought despair to the Queen, who couldn't believe it that they took a photo without the royal head. Shaken by these turn of events, when the princesses returned to their seating the Queen remembered the purpose of this meeting.

"... W... We here to discuss recent events with France and the Stuart family."

She was basically honest about the intention of this meeting, some would try and avoid mentioning the Stuart family in the presence of one. But it was obvious by now, that Eolas had listened in on the earlier discussion. So there was no need to hide it.

"What about France?"

The first princess asked, she had apparently prepared a number of magazines all open to the horoscopes and other forms of divination

"I think it's wise I explain everything in order. The problem started five days ago with the Eurotunnel explosion. That sole land route between England and France has three separate tunnels, but all three of them were blown up. I have determined that is done by the French government."

"What about the incident that happened after? The terrorist attack clearly was an attempt to divert intelligence agents, it's the only possible way that an attempt of the Stuart head's life could be made without being noticed."

The first princess argued, showing assurance that the incident was related to the Stuart family. But the second princess was wondering about France.

"Do you have any proof of that?"

Carissa asked, it didn't seemed like she was doubting the Queen's words. But there was that same dangerous look on her face which Eolas had noticed. It was the same as before when he met the princess earlier and had made Mikoto worried. It was clear that she wanted to be able to just start a way and physically deal with the problem.

But the queen disagreed with both princesses.

"There is a reason why I had Librorum Prohibitorum summoned here. If it was a French-type of Roman Catholic spell or a Stuart protestant type spell. She would able to analyse it using the 103,000 grimoires."

Index look dumbfounded when the attention was drawn to herself. The Queen couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed about the situation.

"As long as we can gather some sort of evidence, we can justify taking action. It may be none of my business, but FRance has its own complicated decision making process it has to go through. There is a group there that hates the Roman Catholic Church's one way interference in France's business. If we can contact the people that want this to end peacefully, it is possible this could all be resolved through talks. ... Of course, that plan comes from the wishful thinkers he in England and it's really nothing more than a night thought that has little chance of succeeding."

"If this is about France..."

Touma spoke up with a timid voice. Really he wasn't sure if he should be speaking up in such an important discussion.

"Then I suppose it has to do with the terrorist incidents earlier today? I'm pretty sure they were French."

Before the Queen could respond to Touma, Eolas had to speak up regarding the situation. He wasn't really in the known about the terrorist incidents. But he had to say something considering, the attacks are also suspected as reactionary response to his father's death. He

"Touma do you remember what I said couple of days ago in Academy city? About my family?"

_..._

_"I told you before about Lancelot and my father. If that knight was set free then that only means on purpose or that my father is dead. There is something people should understand about my family. **The Stuarts are like Lions who chew up everything they want and spit it out when they're done. This has made the Stuarts a very powerful family in England for many centuries.** His death obviously has left a large power vacuum in the country and now many other families are going to jump at the chance to fill it. My sister needs me to return to England to show that the Stuart family is united and should not be defied. No matter how you look at it, she only wants me to come back to fulfil her own objectives. Am I correct Stiyl? Is my father dead and that my sister wants me back for no other reason then family issues?"_

_..._

"It's in my families nature to use others. All with the intention to secure our dominance. So let's think it from this point of view; the family is now weakened due to the passing of its head. There is obviously a power vacuum left from his death. So what's a good way to keep other families in check? Fear. To remind the country that they're nothing without the guidance and protection of the Stuart family and its resources. Make the country collapse at the seems and leaving it up for Stuart members to solve the problem. It's only natural for Stuarts to act in that way... So I can assume my arrival in this country has been met with distrust, considering my past conflicts that even involved this country. In the past I had all the intention of succeeding my objectives even if I had to use people."

When he said his last sentence, Eolas briefly glanced towards Kanzaki. But soon turned his attention back to Touma... But the Queen made it known that he disagreed with Eolas' growing feeling that his family was involved.

"Considering you barely been part of your own families' activities, then you probably wouldn't understand something about your own kin. Despite everything that your family and ancestors has done, even when it seems inhuman. Specially when it comes to your father. It has always been for the good of this country. That is why I don't see how your family is involved, it's also rather nonsense to call these reactionary responses. When the first attack happened before your father's death; sure the Eurotunnel explosion could of been a diversion to break through the intelligence net. But Rimea and Eolas you only underestimating the former head of the Stuart family..."

Eolas couldn't explain it, but he started to feel light headed and the imagines of his recent dream returned to him in that moment.

_..._

_"Father?"_

_It was indeed the voice of his father that he could remember._

_"Don't you dare call me father boy. You're nothing but an unwanted brat. If it wasn't for your mother, I would of killed long ago."_

_He couldn't explain it but he started to shake in fear from the sound of his father's voice. Some were deep down he knew that despite everything, he still just felt like a little boy when it comes to him. But despite his fear, Eolas' tendency to stand his ground shown. From his hand shaking in fear and then clenching into a first._

_"You're dead... YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING ANYMORE!"_

_But his father's response only served to crush his defiance against his dad. _

**_"And who the hell told you that?"_**

_..._

Nobody really noticed Eolas' reaction to the Queen's words. While the third princess had given a brief smile towards the Queen, she was probably happy to know that she wasn't the only one to think these attacks weren't a reactionary response to the Stuart families' issues To which allowed the Queen to continue...

"Saying that, I don't believe him and the French government were directly involved. Both probably knew what was happening and just let it occurred. We can forgive the reasoning for the late Stuart head, nobody knows for sure what had lead to his final hours. But the French government possibility let it happened on purpose. According to the police, they received aid from multiple organizations in exchange for teaching those organisations how to hijack a place without using guns..."

Eolas finally overcome his light headed spell and commented on what was recently said.

"Wait they had to be taught how to do that?"

Indicating that the process of hijacking a plane unarmed is child's play. This got a mixed response from many of those in the room. But the second princess Carissa couldn't but help to laugh.

"I think I actually like this Stuart... can we keep him?"

Eolas reacted angrily

"I'M NOT A DOG THAT YOU CAN KEEP"

The second princess was still laughing from the fact. But the Queen wasn't amused.

"Enough. Let's not stray from the topic... As I was saying, we don't now if those multiple terrorist organizations actually exist. The French government is asking us to hand over the terrorists because they wish to punish criminals from their country themselves. It certainly does seem suspicious."

She didn't want to get into that much, the Queen wasn't one to keep pointing fingers if there wasn't enough information to support it. The Queen continued.

"The Sky Bus 365 is the primary model used in air shipping to the United Kingdom and the weakness this hijacking pointed out makes them unusable. And all the other models of passenger planes are being inspected to ensure that they are safe. At normal times, that would be an acceptable loss but with the land route cut off it has become a terrible loss."

"And if they cut off the sea route, we'll be completely isolated."

The first princess Rimea said in a confident voice. Who was still reading various magazines regarding divinations. She still had something to add.

"Let's take for example, what if they used airplanes to scatter mines throughout the sea around the UK? If just one was hit, it would make the private companies think twice even about going in areas of the sea that weren't known to have been mined."

"You're just as cunning as ever."

Carissa said in a provoking way. But she seemed to ignore her sister's intention and carried on.

"But even if we dealt with France, it isn't clear if that would truly solve the issue. We're looking for a French-type of Roman Catholic spell. This time the attack was carried out by France, but 'they' are surely behind it. It would be best not to think of this as a dispute between England and France, but as antagonism between the England/Academy City side and the Rome/Russia side. We must not be satisfied with having taken out just the vanguard. If we use up all our strength on that, we won't last afterwards."

The knight leader and Eolas seemed to nod in agreement. Which followed by a response from Eolas...

"Basically the United Kingdom is on its own in Europe. Considering most the European continent is influenced by both the Rome/Russian alliance."

"But that isn't the only problem. During the confusion of the previous hijacking, something did caught my attention."

Without really thinking Touma had to ask what...

"Something that caught your attention?"

The Queen nodded in agreement.

"Thanks to Necessarius who helped to resolve the incident with a type of illusion. And their was contingency plan to deal with the terrorists after the plane would of landed due to the illusion. But it didn't happen and that's because it ended in failure. Someone interfered with the illusion from a distance."

The Queen explained and took some documents from the knight leader and lightly threw them on the table in front of her. These were many reports on the incident and they stopped right in front of index.

"It's still being looked into, but I'm more interested in what you think? Do your library of grimoires agree?"

Index looked down at the reports for only a moment.

"It was Norse spell. Seiðr magic is used primarily by female Norse magicians. It uses a certain type of song to cause one to see an illusion while it is used, but it also has a spell that can be used to remove its 'intoxication'. This works with both illusions that trick the brain and illusions that directly cause an image to appear."

Touma had noticed that Eolas had seemed to put something together. This was further enforced when he asked to explain what exactly happened. When Eolas had gotten the details from everybody regarding the incident. He had finally able to speak up about what he was thinking.

"Let's think about it, the spell was Norse in origin. And how this whole hijacking went out made me think, if somebody was skilled enough to interfere with an illusion from a distance. Then obviously they had the capability to knock the plane out of the sky or even destroy it after the hijacking had been dealt with. So from this alone it's clear that who ever interfered, they had no intention of aiding the terrorists. But why did they interfere and that would be why I came to this conclusion. Your plan to deal with the terrorists would of resulted in a large portion of the highway to be seal off. That's so the plane can make an emergency landing. The aim of the interference was most likely to prevent that from happening."

"So this magician had some reason to pass through the area at the time?"

Touma asked in curiosity.

"That is correct. It must be important enough to interfere with Necessarius' spell to risk a reactionary response not from them, but also the entire country. Let's also think about why didn't they just wait for the incident to occur and continue after it. They were either running away from something, which is very highly unlikely for a magician of its capability to interfere at such a distance. So that only made me think it had to get somewhere quickly and what kind profession do you think would require such an act? ... I think this magician was delivering something..."

A lot of what Eolas said had starting to make sense but there was something that was out of place. How did he get to the possibility the magician was delivering something.

"What made you think they were delivering something?"

Carissa had said with a twisted smile.

"It's a reasonable thing to assume, you normally have a dead line to deliver an item and it most be rather dangerous to go to these lengths. Also because the spell used was Norse of origin and theres only one group that has that capability and takes on that type of job. New Light."

"Are you sure?"

The Queen asked who seemed to have some confidence in Eolas' opinion.

"Not really... but as you explained. The interference came from the direction of Scotland. They also based in that area."

Eolas responded with a cheerful expression which quickly destroyed the confidence she did have in his opinion. It was this moment Kanzaki spoke up.

"I will make sure the church investigate this lead and also other cables in Scotland for any clues."

With that confirmation of intent to look further in what Eolas had concluded. The first time since she made an appearance. The Third princess spoke up much to Touma's surprise. She seemed much more nervous then him who felt out of place.

"France, the Roman Catholic Church, and the terrorists are all taking these actions because they want to get a message across. Could we possibly listen to that message and find a non-military way to resolve this?"

The second princess Carissa started to laugh at the idea. She then responded to her little sister.

"Of course not. I'll be honest that this conversation is important, but talking when it isn't needed is just a waste of time. Our enemies know exactly what the transition of power in the Stuart family means. Even if we do everything we can to solve this problem with diplomatic measures. It would be foolish of them for not taking this chance at our moment of weakness. Besides, we need to get back at them for what they did to us."

The first princess seemed to agree with Carissa, but she expressed that she didn't enjoy methods just as physical as the second princess suggests. But she tries to reassure her youngest sister that their are methods to keep ill-will between nations to a minimum. Villian looked like she wanted to say more, but she couldn't help but remain silent. Seeing that Eolas decided to speak up about what was recently said.

"There is something bothering me. Why does my family has such a dramatic hold on this country?"

The Queen was the one to answer that question for the young Stuart.

"That's because if it wasn't for them. This country would probably not of existed, this of it as this way. Your family for many generations have acted like the glue which keeps the three factions together. It's frustrating but your family just have too much power in all walks of life in this country. If something happens to the Stuarts then the entire country is bound to feel the impact... We have accepted that fact, but even your father knew of my desire to dilute your families hold. I feel that would be best for this country in the end. But you see it's much harder to do that, because while the country is held in account to your family. Your family is held into account by it's branch families. "

The Queen explaining her thoughts on the Stuart situation. The others except for Touma and Index looked rather surprised because they knew if it was any other member of the Stuart family. Then she wouldn't be able to speak so bluntly of her wish to dilute the Stuart's power. Despite his father knowing of this desire, it wasn't taken so lightly and the royal family nearly paid for it.

But despite this Carissa tried to draw this meeting to a close. She had desired a response from the Queen, so she can prepare her forces to tackle either enemy.

"So what should we focus on?"

The Queen took this chance to stand up as she plans to lay out directions for everyone to take. These weren't exactly orders and she wasn't pushing her authority on anybody in the room. But they were like logical instructions about what they should do.

That method of assignment was truly the method of what a true leader used.

"This has come down to a decision between investigating an incident that has already happen and one that may happen in the future. As thats been suggested by the Young Stuart, we should focus on the magical cabal within the country."

The second princess wouldn't hide her dislike of what the Queen has said. But regardless the Queen continued.

"Let's go ahead in the usual way. As it deals with an external enemy, the investigation of the Eurotunnel will be led by the knights and the magic cabal within the United Kingdom will be handled by the Anglican Church. However, Index Librorum Prohibitorum will not go with the church in the search for the magic cabal. She will help with the Eurotunnel investigation."

The last decision was obvious, she easily figured out what had caused the interference with the hijacking. So it's not without a doubt that she could understand what caused the Euro tunnel incident.

"Report what was decided to your respective organizations. Let's get the inevitable questions over as quickly as possible. After all, there is no kind of rule that makes it so only one incident occurs at a time."

Upon saying this everybody knew what had to be done, but there something more to be said to which the Queen turned her attention to Eolas Stuart.

"As for you young Stuart. We have no power to ask you to do anything, nobody blames you if you don't think of this country as your home. But you should know that your actions have far more weight then you may think. Whatever you decided to do with your family problems is your own. I just hope that it can be resolved without much disorder... You must know while my desire to dilute your family's power isn't a secret, there is nothing I can do. Because outside interfere would only risk causing a civil war... You already know that your sister is the head of the Anglican church and while its accepted that a Stuart has power in one of the three factions. It would be rather upsetting for the country if another throws their weight behind one of the factions. So I'm asking you Eolas Stuart, if you have any love for the country of your birth. That you don't fall into line of one of the three factions?"

This was probably one of the strangest requests that he has ever gotten. Normally people would want him to support their side regardless of the situation. Think about it, the boy was a level five esper in Academy city. He has a history that had impacted the sides of magic and science for over ten years. The legacy of project Imperator had made him much more of a dangerous entity specially to Magicians. Not only that but he was the son of the Stuart family. There is so many benefits to have this boy on your side, but the head of state and the royal majesty Queen of England didn't have that desire. She wanted Eolas to stay on the fence and not upset the balance of the country even more then the death of his father has caused.

Eolas had no desire to cause trouble for anybody.

So the answer was very obvious.

"I'm here on holiday. I have no intention of joining either faction."

* * *

Next time... **Chapter 10** - The Calm before the Storm.


	10. The Calm before the Storm! (1)

**Chapter 10** - The Calm before the Storm

The members of this meeting had slowly but surely dispersed in their separate duties. Kanzaki went ahead to conduct the necessary investigations into New Light and other magical cables based in Scotland. This was a priority to discover who were interfere with an emergency landing so they can use the highway which leads from Scotland and directly into England. Touma had gone with her to help in the investigating while Index was opted to help with the Eurotunnel investigation, which was going to be supported by the three princesses and the knight leader. The Queen was going to return to Windsor castle while Eolas wasn't exactly expected to do anything. No one wouldn't blame him if he watch this country burn.

However it's clear that there was something he could do, but the concerns of the country wasn't on his mind. Not even of his mother, father and sister. In fact he was more focused on returning to Sarah and Mikoto. Though he isn't sure anybody told Misaki anything. So before that he plan to pick her up. Where ever shes waiting.

"Ermm... Stuart sir..."

This voice, it was rare voice he only once heard spoke throughout that entire meeting. It was the voice of the third princess Villian. Eolas turned to her with curiosity, when it came to the three princesses she was the one who was most mysterious. The other princesses were easy to understand, the first one displayed a unique form of intelligence and the second princess was clearly looking for a fight. When it comes down to it, the look in the second princess' eyes is comparable to Eolas' ruthless moments. But the third princess, felt like a mystery to Eolas but if he explain what he feels about this princess. Then it would come to the feeling of wanting to protect the third. He honestly doesn't understand it. She was just a princess of a family he barely knows personally. But that was just it... the feeling he gets from this girl was just... that.

"How can I help you Princess Villian?"

The third didn't realise her elder sister, Carissa was standing behind them waiting for them to finish talking.

"Y-ou... you going to do your best to avoid fighting aren't you? There is no reason why the Stuart family has to fight for their ancestral head. I mean nothing really changes, other then this country suffers from your families' actions. Can't you just talk with your sister?"

Carissa could be heard smirking at her little sister's words. She then walked past her and stopped besides Eolas Stuart. She put her hand on Eolas' left shoulder and turned to her sister.

"Look in his eyes Villian, they aren't the eyes of a human like yours and mine. He is no different from his family, he has the eyes of a Lion. The King of a Jungle. And there can only be one King. It's just part of that families' nature. The Stuart siblings are destined to bare fangs at each other..." She begun to walk away from them both while continuing. "And this country will have to bare witness, regardless of our feelings."

When the second princess was far away enough, Eolas quickly turned towards Villian with a cheerful smile.

"Is your sister always like that?"

Villian looked rather nervous, so it took a while to respond to Eolas. She was saying this while looking down towards the floor.

"But... it's true. We can only sit and watch while... What you doing?!"

Eolas had knelt down to try and keep in the princess' eye sight. He was looking at her with curiosity, while she didn't know he was trying understand this aura about the third princess. It took a more of casual looking before he figured something out.

"You know your two elder sisters can be very scary. One shows a rather dangerous sense of intelligence while the other was born for war. Sometimes the world need people like them, but you know, the world needs people more like you. You remind me of somebody, in fact you already met this person. You two have a natural power to bring people together and that is much more rare then having the power of a Saint. So keep your chin up Princess. I can tell people are going to look to you more then they do the Queen one day..." Upon saying this the princess begun to look back at him, while Eolas stood back up. Showing that she headed his request of keeping her chin up.

"I have no intention of fighting my sister, the only reason I came here is to learn really. I wouldn't call this country my home, but it's part of who I am. So don't fret, if it comes downs to it I'll be protecting the peace of this country..."

The third princess was too nervous to respond straight away. But looking into the eyes of what her sister called a Lion. She didn't see the lust one would had to fight. She actually saw the opposite, she saw the eyes of one who was tired of fighting. Who wanted it all to stop, she was too tired of conflict that has raged around her country. But unlike herself, she felt this boy had the power to stop the fighting. He reminded her of the feelings of another, but she couldn't exactly put her mind to it.

"Thank you."

The only words she had said so far that was filled with confidence and with this Eolas took his leave. She had felt kind of guilty for treating this boy in the same way as his family. But looking at it now, it shouldn't really be the case. Most of his life this boy has been living in exile. He's been brought up differently, but it didn't take one with special eyes to see that his bringing up wasn't the best. Considering the activities of this boy in the last ten years and more. Some could argue being exiled was the worse choice for him. Princess Villian had once met and observed his father before. While there was clear similarities, you can say the son couldn't be any more different this his father.

...

...

...

"I don't understand why you've sought me out. Your branch of supporters aren't exactly my own."

Laura Stuart said, while looking outside her carriage on the side of the road. She was in the heart of Stuart controlled territory. Which some believe that it can be a country on it's own. You could find people in these area's that would fight and die for the Stuart house hold. There are many holdings across the control, while the Stuart Manor is close to London. The Stuart power bases resides in Cornwall, Wales and Norfolk.

The Stuart Manor isn't actually far from Windsor castle. It would take twenty minutes in car to go between them. Though Laura was travelling in a carriage and on her way to meet the Queen. She was stopped at road side by a familiar face. Laura continued to response to the presence of this individual.

"Not only that, but you caused me and my allies trouble these past months."

The individual finally responded to Laura's words.

"I'm sorry my Lady, but isn't the Head of the Stuart house meant to separate your feelings from the that of the Archbishop? The two dictates different responsibilities."

Laura took a deep breath in response and kinda look fed up with the problem.

"You know many people who caused me trouble as Archbishop had tried to return to their branch families without consequence. Specially since the death of my father..." Suddenly a cruel expression in her eyes can be seen."I really don't tolerant those who take advantage. But considerings it's you... Even if we put these past months aside. I can't help you. William Orwell."

The individual who had sought out the Stuart head was none other then William Orwell, or known as Acqua of the Black. Formally he was a mercenary operating for the benefits of the UK under the order of the Stuart family. But this became no longer the case ten years ago...

Ten years ago is when the former head learned of the Queen's desire about the Stuart family. Angered by whispering of diluting his families' power. Which to him and many other Stuart branch families whispered treason in their eyes. The former head of house had no choice but to remind the Royal family of their place. Before they had planned to deal with France which the UK was in conflict with at the time. However using their influence in parliament, they planned to sacrifice the Third princess Villian who was 14 at the time to wipe out France's entire military strength; magical and otherwise. While dealing with his own internal strife, William Orwell who as mercenary which allowed him to step on any battlefield. Had ignored the political and personal implications. And chooses to save the third princess from her fate.

This action had not only incurring the wrath of the Stuart household, William Orwell soon avoided it by leaving the country. Which soon lead to him joining the Roman catholic church. However his actions had near doomed his family, the Orwells', one of the oldest branch families. While the action to sacrifice the princess didn't pan out, the message was put across but also undermined due to William Orwell. To ensure their hold on internal and external affairs, the Orwell family was entirely massacred by the other Branch families under the Stuart Head's orders. The father of Eolas and Laura Stuart. The Orwell family used to number over fifty blood related members. Including himself only three Orwell family members remain today.

You think for such a person to defy the Stuart family would dare to ask for help. But it was only possible due to the death of the former head. Relations between branch and head are reset during this period which urged renewal and cooperation to secure the future of the country. This allowed many former individuals who angered Laura's father to return with a clean slate. William Orwell being one of them, so his words regarding the duties of heard shouldn't be influenced of her duties as Archbishop were also true. But that wasn't the actual problem. Even to this day, the two other surviving Orwell members still support Eolas Stuart. While the lack in number, they hold great influence in their area. Unlike her father, Laura can't exactly enforce her will on anybody at this moment. Not until Eolas at least engages in the politics of his family. So she knew exactly where people stood among the branch families.

Even before then it had to be said. William Orwell had more of a chance with Eolas then herself. Even if she wanted to help. Because her supporters could opt for his death and to secure their support she probably would go through with it.

"Look. William. It's not like It's about what you done recently, or ten years ago. I think we both know your family paid the price. It's just I can't guarantee your safety due to your surviving family member's support of my brother. Your families allies among the others aren't exactly friends with my supporters. So it's nothing personal, but I'm going to have to leave you here."

Amazingly William expected much, but it never hurt to try. He didn't really say much in response, but bowed his head like he accepted the response of Laura Stuart. This would only mean he had to seek out her brother, if he would achieved what he was set out to do. Though Laura personally figured that he might not even survive long, it was clearly seen that William was still hurt from recent events. Which saw to the weakening of his saint powers. To the point some wouldn't consider him a Saint no longer. But it doesn't matter to him at this point, he had begun to leave Laura sight but was soon stopped by her voice.

"Hey, just a minute. I'm rather curious do you hold a grudge about what happened?"

Laura asked referring to the fate of his family.

"I don't. If any one is to blame it would be myself. I knew what would of happened if I defied your father and if anything I'm the one who ordered their deaths. I have to live with my decision."

He responded clearly and without hesitation. Telling from his reaction, there seemed to be no regret of his decision ten years ago. But going from what he said, William doesn't hold the Stuart family into account. Despite being the ones who put nearly most of his family to the blade. Maybe this was just the common tradition of resetting relations, when a new head is appointed. It goes to say for the head to treat all members with a clean slate, the also means the other way round. He begun to leave Laura's site who watched him leaving, knowing that she basically had given a powerful pawn to her brother. Even if he isn't willing to enforce his will on the family, his supporters would be able to add pressure. Family politics was much as a headache or even more then national politics. As her carriage begin to leave for Windsor castle, she sat inside thinking if she even see that man again. Even if he had the powers of a Saint, it's far too dangerous for someone like him to be present in this country without Stuart protection. That's only because the kill order on him is still expected to be followed even after her father's death. Laura realised for a moment... that there were actually a lot of things still enforced since her father's death.

Secrets that not even she was told about.

...

...

...

"Look what we have here... The Queen of Tokiwdai... What does it feel like to be in a proper Palace?"

Eolas said with amusement to find Misaki was enjoy herself being served. For this time she hadn't had to control anybody, but was being served scones and nice tea at her pleasure. This truly would be a girl's team of an another noon tea. But it was further along then afternoon. But Misaki doesn't seem to care about it and she was just enjoying her time in this place.

"Oh nice to see you here. Do you fancy a cuppa?"

Misaki said while speaking into English, it was like she was trying to put on a British accent. Which actually made Eolas cringed as the attempt was rather embarrassing. But she was also giving a crafty expression, to which only means she had found something out which would be of interest. Knowing that expression, Eolas pulled up a chair to the table she was sitting.

"Alright, what do you know!"

With a big and crafty smile she waited a moment before responding. She even took a sip of tea to which obviously means she was stalling. Then after putting her cup down on the table, she was willing to finally reveal what she known.

"Well it seems the Queen wants you to marry her youngest daughter."

It was like glass had shattered in Eolas' conscious when he heard what Misaki said. He slowly look back at Misaki who quickly explained how she find out, to which one of the third princess' maids which was easily told by their uniform was under her control. Neither of them really knew it, but it was the same maid who told the third princess this earlier. Despite the unbelievable news he was told, it was silly to think she was lying. The thought of it had suddenly caught on Eolas' interests, which lead him to feel embarrassed for a moment when she realised how nervous that princess can become.

He suddenly snapped out of it and shock his head in disagreement.

"No... no... no... That's wrong. I don't believe in arranged marriages and it's unfair for her because I'm way too young. She probably want somebody her own age. Also I'm rather unreliable, so who would want me for a husband? I mean... come on... it's obvious that will never have such a normal life... And from what I just learned recently, it would only be a political marriage to dilute my families' power..." At that moment, the memories he had so far of the Queen and princesses flashed through his mind. The memories of his father and the rest of his father followed after... And then he looked towards Sir Lancelot's ghost and he remembers an echo of his sister talking about Avalon. He was thinking about it all and the last thing that came to his mind was both Sarah an Mikoto. "I'm such an idiot... To even think for a moment, that it all could be possible to have a normal life."

Upon hearing him saying that suddenly, make Misaki to get up from her seat. She walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Come on you. Let's go."

She thought it wasn't best to allow him to sit there and think about it. So she urged him to get up and move... to head back to the hotel where Mikoto and Sarah was waiting. But as they make it outside the palace, she briefly looked over to him who clearly was still thinking about it.

"You're not an idiot." Misaki said suddenly which made them come to a stop. "We all dream you know and we hope for something that's far beyond our reach. But if you want to ask what my dream will be and that's to see three of my favourite people to always smile." She didn't say it directly, though Eolas got the idea when she lifted Eolas' chin up. But she was referring to him, Sarah and also Touma. "While she has suffered at such at young age, you two have taken on too many burdens, even if they're not your own. And you neither of you ask for a thank you, or some other type of reward. So it's just disheartening to see you both go through so much and expect nothing. That is why it's me dream to see you two and Sarah to always smile."

Silence fell between them, mainly because Eolas was looking at her with a surprised expression and you can tell she was starting to get panicky from saying something so out of character. He thought her dream was rather sweet, which only made his seem selfish in comparison. 'To live a normal life' he'd thought is it even possible for him. He really doesn't know, but to think about such things when Misaki was clearly panicking from what she had said. He had to do something... He wasn't the best person to comfort people, specially after she tried her best to comfort him just moments ago.

He did the only thing which was natural to him. He patted her on the head like he has done constantly with both Sarah and Mikoto. Misaki really didn't like it, but she knew it was his way of expressing concern and telling that person everything is OK. It was then when he finally responded.

"Look at me making you say something which is so unlike you. Like I told you I would be a rather unreliable husband... Come on..."

Eolas started to walk again, making Misaki panic a moment for him to suddenly carry on moving. Asking him to wait for her at least. They continued to walk away from the Palace and just before they left from the grounds, Eolas figured something out based on her reactions.

"I'm too tired to talk about complicated things right not, but unless you want to talk about what happened with Touma?"

Misaki didn't answer him and Eolas took that as a clear no. That was fine he'd thought, there was no way he was going to press the issue. It was her problem and if she wanted to talk about it, she would of done so already.

...

...

...

It didn't take long for the information regarding those who interfered with the emergency landing of the hijacked plane came in. Thank's to Agnese's report and what Eolas had confirmed earlier, it was indeed the work of New Light. There was belief that they had planned to do something in london from her investigations at their headquarters. Not only do they find out their possible destination, but what they were up too.

"Excavating something?"

Kanzaki wasn't happy upon hearing that. Angnese continued.

"It seems they were mainly working at a spot where a fortress used to be, but it is unknown what they were trying to obtain. However, from the amount of time and money they spent on it, it must be central to their plan."

It had to do with something magical like a spiritual item. It was the only obvious conclusion for them to risk endangering the entire country as their enemies. And if they were digging something up instead of making it, then it must be impossible to make with modern materials.

"I suppose it would be best to assume they excavated some spiritual item and are taking it to London to destroy something."

Kanzaki had thought but Agnese didn't agree, only down to lack of proof on that matter. But what really caught both of their attention is what Agnese found on a short memo, it was in today's date and a short piece of text on it.

"Today, is the day we change England."

That was a frightening phrase, no matter how you look at it. Change what about the country? The factions or those who rule them from behind the scenes? There was nothing peaceful about that meaning. Specially after recent events and if any member of the Stuart family or branch members supported New Light. Then this could lead to much more disastrous consequences. If new light was hired by a Stuart member, then the item there after must be rather dangerous... But if the Stuart family catches wind of any of this feeling of change. Then it would be met with the blade to all who support the meaning behind that phrase...

"Today, is the day we change England..."

The most dangerous phrase in the country...

It wasn't long before Agnese and Kanzaki's conversation came to an end. The conclusion was made that Agnese would continue investigating, while Kanzaki along with Amakusa church would watch things in London. Trying to head New Light off. Considering he was no longer needed, Touma thought it be best to go with Index. But Carissa the second princess had argued that the power of his right hand will hinder investigation efforts at the tunnel. This is only because it was being preserved by magical means and considering this incident was influencing events in both England and France. Then it would be very important for them not to risk anything. It was then moment after reassurance that Index would be protected, that both Touma and Index was split up.

...

...

...

There was something which only can be properly seen in this country, while other country does have the same view. England was full of them and was a precious sight that could always be related to England. Rolling green hills all the way to the horizon. An occasional barn or windmill was the only difference between them. And time quickly etched ever closer to midnight, it was currently past eleven pm, do the animals that doted the country side were asleep, where in the day they would be roaming these fair green hills.

Near this wonderful country side beauty was a single car driving down the nearby road. The car was small and not suitable for a family to use. The four girls of New Light were packed in this tiny car.

One of the girl was sitting in the backseat was sticking her head out the window. The girl was in her early teens and was wearing a bluish miniskirt and an unfashionable jacket zipped all the way up to her neck. Her long black hair was braided together only at the end. She complained about the smell that came with the country side...

"Dahh. I can't wait to be rid of this country smell…"

"Lessar, I can see your ass. And that tail is in the way!"

The voice belonged to the girl of about 18 who was sitting next to her. The silver-haired girl was wearing the same outfit as Lessar, but without the jacket. She had a long-sleeved sports shirt on and the chest portion bulged out greatly. The collar had a few small buttons, but they were all left undone leaving her cleavage slightly visible. The portion of her legs sticking out of the miniskirt had blue leggings on them down to the ankles.

She slapped the tail swaying in front of her eyes.

"If you don't draw it in, I'm ripping it off."

"Don't be so mean, Bayloupe. What has you so mad anyway?"

Lessar sent an order to her tail with her eyes still looking out the window. By drawing it in, she didn't just put it away somewhere. Instead, it started wrapping like a snake around the base of her thigh within her miniskirt.

In what may have been a necessary action to draw in her tail, Lessar raised her butt up high.

Having Lessar's white panties thrust in her face, Bayloupe's eyebrows twitched.

"I told you to get it out of my face! I told you!"

"Gwaahh!? Why are you grabbing it with both hands like that!? Bayloupe, you always get mad so easily just before a mission! Floris, please tell her to stop!"

"Eh? But I'm concentrated on driving right now."

The blonde girl holding the steering wheel didn't seem to be very motivated. She was around 15 and was wearing a similar outfit to the other two. She had the jacket draped over the sports shirt and had spats on underneath the miniskirt.

"…It seems no matter how far we go, the scenery stays the same. I know we gotta meet that man on the way, but both that and our actual destination is suppose to be on this straight path. Is this right Lancis?"

The conversation turned in the direction of the brown-haired girl acting as navigator in the passenger seat.

"S-stop… That tickles…aha…Wh-whenever I take in magic power…it tickles so much. Ee hee hee..."

The conversation really didn't improve setting their minds on their objective, it would seem that obvious arguments was ensured when packed in such a tiny car. But it wasn't long until they found their first stop on their way to London... It was at another Windmill that dotted the landscape and from seeing in the distance. Probably the last one they see before they reach civilisation. Upon driving up in the tiny car, the headlines shined on a hooded individual who seems to be in his early twenties. He seems to enjoy his smokes as there was the light of two cigeratees burning in the darkness, one was perched on his left ear while another in his left hand. Not only that was notable about the man, his eyes pierced the darkness like daggers upon staring at the car's arrival.

Only Bayloupe had left the car to approach the man. And in a rather angry voice, which was towards the man... She reported her status.

"We're ready to go, make sure you do your part. I expect nothing else but completion from you, got it?"

This was met quickly with a slap across her face and she only stood there to take it.

"Mind your attitude with me Bayloupe. I man not be from the main branch, but you still talking with a Stuart."

Only from this point her anger was actually directed towards the man claiming to be from the Stuart branch families. You can see it from her expression directed towards the man in front of herself. He noticed it clearly.

"Normally I would hit you again, but those eyes are perfect for what you about to do. To change this country... from the expression you making however, I hope you don't forget this simple fact... Kings and Queens come an go, but there is always one thing that will remain. The Stuarts... Even when a new Monarch sits on that throne. The only difference this time is that a branch family would become the main household."

The awful truth, while the country will surely change when people with different fews enter the seats of power. There is one truth that seems to never change, the Stuarts will always be in charge behind the scenes. Was all the recent events an attempt to usurp the main Stuart family from their position? While there seems to be more going on, for this man that was the only thing on his mind.

"Go on now. London isn't that far down this road, succeed in your mission and I'll promise you things will change..."

A smirk can be seen on this man's expression when Bayloupe headed back to the car.

...

...

...

Back at the hotel, Mikoto had been sitting with Sarah who was lying down on her bed watching tv. Despite being very tired she was determined to wait for Eolas to return, her desire was soon answered when he finally made it back. But much to her dismay, she came back with Misaki which instantly reminded her of earlier. More so that they were alone, she had expected her to be with Touma and Index at least. But no, she was with Eolas alone and that just really got on her nervous.

Eolas read the atmosphere and quickly retreated from Misaki who seemed to go over towards Sarah. It was an honest reaction to make, considering Misaki hasn't seen her for a few days. While Eolas treats Sarah as a younger sister, Misaki does the same. Though it was more down the feeling Misaki gets when she gets called 'big sister' by Sarah. Mikoto took this chance to walk over to Eolas, despite Misaki's arrival, she was happy to see him return. A very quick reminder of their height difference was clear when Mikoto stood right next to him and had too look up slightly to him.

"You look so tired. You should of just gone to sleep with Sarah."

Eolas instantly said, noting that she was in fact tired. Mikoto brushed her hair aside as a response, before actually responding to him in a low voice.

"I wanted to make sure you're OK. I would of come with you, but I didn't think it was right to leave Sarah here alone."

"Very responsible, you make a good wife."

This suddenly caught her off-guard which suddenly made her feel embarrassed, but her nervous were quickly calmed when both he and Misaki explained where that came from with the apparent intention of this Royal family to marry their youngest to Eolas. And how soon after leaving the Palace both he and Misaki argued who make a good husband and wife. While Mikoto doesn't know about Misaki's problems regarding Touma, Eolas wasn't exactly going to revel what they were talking about. But it wasn't like he was lying, soon after asking everything was ok with him and he gotten no answer. Eolas started that conversation to liven things up. During this explanation a certain spiky hair boy turned up.

Touma explained the situation from his side, and that there was nothing he can do. It seems that his presence at the Eurotunnel would ruin things and that was probably true from what Eolas had heard. All of them stood into the room just next door, you see both rooms was connected by a door between the wall separating the rooms. One was obviously for Touma and Eolas, while the other was suppose to be for all the girls. They went to Eolas and Touma's room so they didn't wake Sarah up who was in fact asleep. It would be a second time today, Touma found himself in a rather rare situation. While it wasn't really for these certain people. But not many can say they been in a room full of princesses and a Queen. Where later that night, he was in a room with three Level fives of Academy city. If anything he realised he kept rather interesting company. While Misaki begun to ask further details about the meeting, Mikoto once again went to ask Eolas something in a low voice.

"So who did you prefer if you had to choose?"

"Huh" Eolas was kinda confused what she meant.

"You and she argued about who make a better wife or husband. Which princess would you prefer if you had a choice? You met three of them right?"

Mikoto in Eolas view asked a very dangerous question, but while he try and doge it. What he was going to say, wasn't exactly an excuse or a lie.

"Your wrong. I met four."

Eolas responded which Mikoto was surprised by the answer.

"Four? Huh so it's this fourth one? What was she like?"

Mikoto asked who seemed a bit annoyed that he answered so plainly.

"Well... she had a tendency to shock people when she gets embarrassed. But it's one of the things I like about her..."

Eolas said in response quickly, escaping from Mikoto to join the other two in conversation. The reason for this as that was basically a confession and he wasn't the best in those type of situations. It took a moment for Mikoto to register what he had just said, and when she figured it out she looked down to floor with embarrassment. Touma seemed confused upon seeing her expression and had to ask.

"Why do you suddenly seem like a harmless kitte-.."

"Shutup..."

Mikoto said interrupting him and her powers sparked briefly. Touma quickly retracted that statement while Misaki understand what just happen, noticing that Eolas was looking away while it had happened. And Misaki couldn't help to comment on it.

"You are unreliable sometimes."

* * *

**Author Notes**: You probably noticed for those who read the light novels, theres been extracts from Volume 17 here and there to give the same feeling this is heading to the English civil war. One of the major differences shown in this chapter is this simple but more important change. Touma didn't end up in a car with Oriana leading to lesser's capture. Sorry for spoilers. Still that would as I see it have an important change on the direction of the civil war. Reason why he didn't? Well there was no need for the Monarch to use tax payers money, for him to wait in a room for Index. Where he already planned arrangements with Eolas and the others in a hotel. No future fear of paying back a lot of money to the Monarch. Probably not the best reason, but I thought it worked.

Other then that, very few important points were brought up in this chapter. More so setting up for the inevitable storm to come... oh by the way, did Eolas indirectly confess right at the end?

Also I have a bad feeling somebody may get this mistaken, but the guy smoking in this chapter isn't Stiyl.

Next time **Chapter 11** - The Calm before the Storm (2)


	11. The Calm before the Storm! (2)

**Chapter 11 -**The Calm before the Storm (2)

Eolas was watching the others having fun, somehow this had turned into a little party. There were drinks and food out on the table. Which wasn't surprising, nearly everybody here hadn't eaten all day. This was going on while Eolas was sitting on the bed he had chosen, they were all still in his and Touma's hotel room. Sarah was still fast asleep next door, while holding onto her Lion plushie. It was a moment of peace which they were enjoying, and it had gotten the best of Eolas. He was feeling tired and it was starting to weigh down upon his shoulders until he fallen back onto his bed. This obviously meant he was rather tired, more then he first thought, it was probably the trouble he was having while sleeping and when his eyes started to close just for a moment, it had only gave him a horrible reminder... It was like he was fading out slowly and when he opened his eyes briefly, it was like the room had caught fire... It took a moment for this to register with him.

"Huh... "

He didn't sit up, he just quickly rubbed his eyes and realised that it was just his mind playing tricks. He had thought for the moment that life was trying to tell him, that there was a special place in hell waiting for him. It wouldn't really be surprising, considering the things he has done in the past. Which made him think about all the lives he had taken. Even now he call name them all up by their full name. He took the time to learn their names and thats was because it was his way of paying the price. To have their deaths always burdened on his shoulders, until the day he drew his last breath...

Without warning, Mikoto started peer over into Eolas' eye sight from the side. He was still laying on his bed, Mikoto wanted to see if he was sleeping or not. She begun smiling softly as she looked down at him, to him he honestly thought he was seeing an angel. Also, he couldn't help but think and wonder, that despite the everything he had done, why would she choose to stand by him and go as far as interacting with him, as well. He felt like he needed to earn the relationships he had with everyone. Even a normal friendship feels like more than he deserved. But what he has with Mikoto wasn't just friendship right? He was wondering on that very thought and he even wanted to ask in a low voice...

"H-hey Mikoto... Huh..."

Before he could even go further, there was light coming from his pocket. Mikoto noticed it was well and Eolas got up from the bed. Sadly losing what he thought was a beautiful side of Mikoto. He then reach into his pocket to bring out that communication talisman which he got from earlier. It was like energy was gathering in it then suddenly a force connection was made from the other side.

"Eolas... It's Laura... are you there?"

The sound of his sister's voice flooded the room, which caught everybodys attention. You can tell from the expression on Misaki and Mikoto's face that they still get confused by the use of magic. But it was a reality of the situation and they both are trying to accept it.

"Err.. Yeah... what's up? You sound worried?"

Eolas said who doesn't look amused about being bothered by her sister.

"Of course I'm going to be worried about my cute little brother. Look, I need to ask you for a favour."

"Really now?"

Eolas responded sarcastically. Which in turn was met with a rather annoyed Laura.

"Come on Eolas, I don't know what family means to you. But wouldn't cooperating with each other, show the others that we have no intention to fight? Because if we don't show any sign of making the first move, our supporters will and then it would be too late."

Family politics, considering she was more experienced in how their family works, he had no choice but to take her advice. Also it wasn't really much to ask, he did want to show others and keeping a promise to the third princess. He has no intention of fighting his sister and he was going to help show family unity. It had to be done, not just for Laura but for everybody who feared Stuart infighting.

"You're right... What is the favour?"

The was a reluctant sigh coming from the other side of the talisman. This had made him think, she was going to say something he wouldn't like to hear.

"I'm sorry to ask you this Eolas. But I have no choice and considering your record of hunting down mage..."

He was right and he didn't want her to continue talking about it. So he'd interrupted his sister...

"Just get on with it..."

A very short brief of silence followed before Laura continued.

"... Necessarius is currently out in force across the country, you may of heard it yourself from your little trip to the palace. But something is going on within the country, from the reports coming in that something is happening tonight... I heard that you know about New Light, and we need to capture them before they pull of whatever they planning..."

"Are they really that of a concern?"

"I had a team investigate their headquarters and they found a short memo."

Laura explained before he voice was suddenly cut off and then it was followed by some buzzing sound. Then somebody else' voice had emerged from the communication talisman.

**"Today, is the day we change England..."**

He didn't realise it was a recording on an earlier conversation taking place not to long ago. But those words instantly caught his complete attention. And from his sister's reaction they both was thinking the same thing.

"Father?"

Upon saying this he looked slowly towards the corner of the room. That is where Lancelot tends to stand, trying to stay out of sight despite only being seen by those with Stuart blood. But upon looking towards him, Lancelot move his hand like he was about to point to something. And like a familiar fading of light, his mind threw his consciousness to the past.

What followed was a flurry of memories, each one of him peering into his father's study, hearing those exact same words. Each one was also accompanied by the presence of Lancelot. It was like he was guiding Eolas to the deepest reaches of his memories. It didn't take long for him to snap back to the present and Lancelot was staring at him with blood thirsty eyes. But he didn't care about that and reacted angry to what he remembered...

"You said he was killed, why the hell does it feel like he isn't?"

Silence quickly fell in the room in response to his reaction. There was so much hate in his words and though there was also fear. Only Mikoto had the courage to step forward to try and do something about it. He seemed really tensed when he had said those words and only upon Mikoto pulling on his left arm did that change. Only then he realised how angry he got then, he was completely shocked from the look in his eyes and then gritted down hard on his teeth before continuing.

"I-I'm sorry... Just tired from the trip."

Even though she wasn't in the room, Laura could easily tell from his reaction how much he feared their father. She doesn't really understand the core of his fear, but he couldn't really blame him. Because for a long time she had felt scared by the man she called father. And the day he had taken his life had only served to make her feel better. Among other things she had on her mind.

"Let me tell you Eolas. That I saw the lifeless body of our father, personally. He's dead... I can tell you want some closure on this matter, but could you put this at the back of your mind? I need your help to track down New Light. Once again you know about them, you have experience tracking down mages and..."

"I'm not going to kill them. I'll just subdue them..."

It was low but you could hear a slight hint of disappointment from Laura.

"Fine. Just... get the job done before this gets out of hand. I'm pretty sure you don't want your holiday ruined with your... friends." Despite not meeting face to face yet, she has already heard a lot of information on Eolas' thoughts about his arrival to England. She knew exactly how to drive him in this way. "If you need help, Kanzaki and the Amakusa church are out in force in London." She does feel guilty about manipulating her only little brother. But it had to be done. She knew how stretched her 'resources' to deal with the current situation and she needs his 'abilities'. And this was the perfect chance to show a united front within the Stuart family.

"I'll be leaving the talisman with Kamijou Touma. If you need to contact me then he knows my number."

"Why are you giving it to him? Wouldn't it be eas..."

She was interrupted once again by Eolas.

"I'm leaving it with him because I'm sure after hearing us talk right now. That he is going to be worried about Index. And you going to ensure him that she will be fine. That can be you paying this favour back. You got it?"

Another sigh can be heard from the other side and Laura reluctantly agree. It's not like she don't want Index to be protected, she is an important asset for this country. She was pretty sure that she was well looked after. Shortly after the communication talisman looked like it deactivated, showing that the connection to Laura had been cut.

"You actually going? Aren't you too tired for something like this Eolas?"

Mikoto said in a worry, the first one to confront him on the matter.

"This is nothing compared to what happened two years ago. And I have to go, if I'm going to make any progress here. And I want you to come with me Mikoto Misaka."

He used her full name and that only meant one thing. Eolas was serious in his intentions to go. The one other time was a very bad memory for both of them. It was the day he had left Academy city over two years ago. Even without seeing Eolas' determined expression, you know that he's serious when he uses her full name in that way.

"Huh... Why?"

Despite knowing that he was serious, she was rather confused how she can help. Which was a honest thought to have in this situation. She's still finding it hard to her her head around this magical business. How can she do anything against that type of power. But it was Misaki who had responded and it was nothing to do with magic.

"Isn't that hard to understand why? In the entire world London has the most cameras and you can easily hack into them. It would help tracking this 'New Light' down. But what I want to know is who is this 'New Light' anyway and how'd you know them?" Misaki had bluntly asked.

"It's a magical organisation. Like a club you may say, Scotland has the tendency to be a hub of groups of their kind. Which is really magical novices who has similar interests come together to form these 'clubs' as you can call it. But some how, the way they do things, I feel they just using that way to maintain their position. They specialises in the creation or rediscovering of spiritual items. They're also great couriers and how I knew them is when I had to intercept 'one' of their jobs in the past. I know exactly what they're capable off and they also understand what I can do. So I have two advantages, though one may not exactly me consistent."

Eolas answered, trying to be rather clear on what he knew. Though Misaki was wondering but one of his advantages over the targets. Not realising she is actually enjoying this conversation, they had so many similar ones in the past. Specially before missions in Academy city.

"What you mean by consistent?"

"That I can ensure they don't know I'm coming for them. As I said, they understand what I'm capable off and has learned how to avoid my 'tricks.' The other advantage if you're willing Mikoto, lend me your support and we can finish this in an hour."

That was very arrogant to time how long it would take to track down and subdue New Light. Though Mikoto shrugged and held her left hand up which was following by a sudden spark of electricity. Which was followed by a serious expression, though honestly, it look like she had a game face on when she engages in competition.

"Of course I'll help. It's why I came here in the first place." Mikoto said with a soft smile before continuing with one concern. "But what about Sarah?"

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on her." Misaki walked forward to Mikoto and patted her on the back. She then got up close to Mikoto and whispered in her ear. "I'm pretty sure you want to have time alone. Right Missakkka-san?"

Misaki's teasing had caused Mikoto to instantly blush while Touma and Eolas looked on. They didn't hear exactly what Misaki had said to Mikoto. But both of them look frightened when Mikoto returned to her zappy self. Knowing that she is far too close to the line, Misaki back away with a crafty smile. When she had done teasing with Mikoto, Eolas tapped Touma on the shoulder.

"Let me know if anything happens. I know it's frustrating to sit and do nothing. But Index should be fine, the real reason I wanted to give you the Talisman. As I hope you accidentally destroy it with your right hand, so they is no way my sister can bother me so easily."

He actually was going to do just that, reaching out with his right hand to take the Talisman. But he suddenly stopped and took the talisman from Eolas with his left hand.

"I think it's best we keep hold of it. You never know we may need your sister."

He had a point and Eolas just shrugged. It was up to him if he wanted to destroy it, but it was obvious that hearing what Laura was saying only made him worried. You didn't have to be born in this country, to understand those words meant something dangerous.

_..._

_"Today, is the day we change England!"_

_..._

"We be back soon" Eolas said, who quickly hurried over to Mikoto and took her by the hand. No matter how you looked at it, that was very bold of him to hold any girl by the hand. But he did and he had that same expression like he always had when about to take on a task. Mikoto tried to struggle out of embarrassment. "What are you doing? Just slow down already!" He didn't and it wasn't long before both of them were out in the hallway, both Misaki and Touma were rather amused from what they had saw, but they knew everything was back to normal as in the distance you can hear the sound of Eolas being shocked by Mikoto.

"I TOLD YOU TO SLOW DOWN! I need too get changed!"

But it surprised them to hear Eolas quickly respond.

"IDIOT DON'T YOU KNOW! THAT SHOCKING ME WILL NOT DO MY HEART ANY GOOD! ... Y-you look angry, I better wait outside."

There was a weak tone in his voice, which you expect from somebody after being shocked.

...

...

...

Somewhere in London city, the man which the leader of New Light Bayloupe had met earlier has been wondering the streets. His appearance was dark and menacing, this was down to his clothes which hid his identity pretty well. And he would need every advantage he can get, to pull of the plan of usurping the Main families' position. Such advantage also comes in personal and he had somebody in mind.

You see within the Branch families of the Stuarts. There was two of less then twenty saints in the world. The person he had heard recently made contact with Laura Stuart, was currently looking for the other sibling. Based on those reports, he has tracked the possible location of this individual. A large man who wore sport like clothes, with a striking blue trim. And striking notable brown hair...

This man was none other then William Orwell.

Both of them had met each other on the streets of London in the heart of London. Once again it was a dangerous decision for William Orwell to be in the country. The Former head of the Stuart family had placed an order on his head ten years ago. Meaning it was a kill on site order for William Orwell. Even after his death this order remains in force. The man who confronts Orwell started to explain the nature of London.

"Not even a Saint would dare stand in London as an enemy of the State. Not at least you ensure that you gain the blessing of either Stuart siblings. Like the heartland territory of the Stuart family across the country. London acts like a country within a country. Like how the Stuart family has heartland territory across the country, they also share the same organisation across London. And now you standing right in one of those Areas. Basically you've walked right into death's door."

William Orwell really didn't care about what the man said. He was too distracted by deducing the identity of the one in front of him. It took a moment for him to figure it out. "Earl!" William Orwell instantly went on the defensive.

The reason for his jumpy nature in response, and that was because there was only two Saint among the Branch families. He was one of the two Saints and the man in front of him was the other.

"Earl Arthur Stout; What are you doing in England? Aren't you suppose to be in Germany?"

The one recognised as Earl Arthur Stout, had tried to calm William who was on the defensive. Only after he managed to prove that he had not intention to fight. Did he respond to William.

"The very same reason you came back to England. To decide the future of the most powerful family in this country, but unlike me you have to be granted official return from one of the siblings. I heard it didn't go well with Laura, so now you going to try with Eolas Stuart."

William seemed rather annoyed that Earl had known exactly what he's been up too. But before he can even question Earl's intention. The mysterious saint had continued.

"Don't you think it's silly that people of our stature have to now listen to the whims of the Stuart siblings. Neither of them are their father, he was on a completely different level. For the first time in the history of the Stuart family, it's now possible to end their line and create our own. Join me William and get revenge for what they had done to your family!"

This was no verbal response and in fact Earl's words was only met with a smile from William.

* * *

**Author Notes:** Shorter chapter then planned. This is because I currently live in great yarmouth in England. Which is currently experiencing very bad weather and theres a chance it will knock the power off for a while. So In case that happens, I though I'll post a bit of this chapter for now. The plan was to end this series of chapters under the same name in this one. But going to exstend to three due to real life weather issues.

Anyway I hope you enjoy this brief read and if the power is still on in the morning, then I'll get the rest done by later that day.

Chapter 12 - The Calm before the Storm (3)


	12. The Calm before the Storm! (3)

**Chapter 12** - The Calm before the Storm. (3)

It had past strike midnight and one member of New Light, Bayloupe, was leaning up against a wall near the stairs leading down into a subway station. She was keeping an eye on an old rectangular case at her feet while occasionally checking the time displayed on the surface of Big Ben. She used a similar spiritual item to contact the other members like Laura Stuart has with her brother.

_"Now then. I suppose it's about time we started. I've made Lancis the keeper. If we succeed, England's current political administration will be rocked to it's very core. London may not fare well. But there's no real reason to destroy the city any more than is necessary. And also if you come into contact with any of the Stuarts, do your best to escape. I already ensured some insurance against that family."_

One member of New Light, Lancis, placed an old rectangular case on the ground and sat on it. She had a long, narrow bag in her hand and trembled while looking up at the night sky. She used a communications spiritual item to contact the other members. _"…I-it tickles…Th-that's why...fwah! Everyone's aiming for this as the time they'll get back…Ahah. At the very least, there'll be less chaos than in the middle of the day…Hyaahhhh…"_

Another member of New Light, Floris, was walking down a small road a bit removed from the main road. She swung an old rectangular case around onto her back in a similar motion to brushing back her hair. She used a communications spiritual item to contact the other members. _"What are you saying less chaos at the middle of the day? If the Stuart's catch wind of this there will be blood to pay and even those who knew us would suffer.. You heard what they did to their own branch family right? Let's not also forget that the certain boy has come back to England today."_

The last member of New Light, Lessar, was in a bar in a run-down area. It was at one edge of the Islington District in North London and everyone in it looked like they would drink at least two litres. A girl in her early teens like Lessar clearly stood out, but she just told the muscular bartender she was in London on a trip and no restaurants were open. He then gave her some free fried fish to eat and orange juice to drink. Lessar was at a counter seat stuffing her mouth with the sizzling fried fish with the strap to a narrow, meter long bag over her shoulder. She also had an old rectangular case on the floor at her feet.

Bayloupe's voice rang within her mind. "Getting something to eat is fine, but don't forget that you're a half, too. We can't have you screwing up now."

_"I won't, I won't. But being the Forward sure would be nice. Oh, Bayloupe. Should we really be using communications magic in London? This is the stronghold of the 0th Parish."_

_"We don't have to worry about that one, it's because we right at the heart of their intelligence net that they wouldn't expect a thing. And we don't have to worry about that families' Intel. With the death of the former head, it's most likely they too busy fighting themselves then notice small problems. I know I just called our goals small, but that family frighteningly thinks much bigger. And if they do catch on, we should relay on our contact within their branch families."_

_"Wasn't there news that 'he' went to the Palace? It's very likely that that the country's leadership knew of our interference. That boy could easily put it together that we're involved. Specially with that index girl they have wi-"_

The transmission ended with a tremendous amount of static. Interrupting Lessar from finishing what she was going to say. While it did bother her, she just resumed her battle against the fried fish.

_"Now then. After I eat this, I just have to take the case to the designated spot and wait for instructions. I wonder if England really is going to change. Even if we do away from the political system on the surface, we still need to deal with them lot... It would be much easier to over throw the Vatican."_

She started humming and kicking her feet underneath her stool when the tip of her foot bumped against the bar. Immediately this made her froze in her place, this is only because she'd thought that she placed the case right there. It wasn't until she turned to the right of her to see a girl round her age in blue shorts, black t-shirt and a baseball cap. Despite the cap you can see her chestnut hair which was tied in ponytail. She didn't know why this girl was picking up the case, but she wasn't just going to allow her walk away with it. But before she could do anything. She was quickly reminded of why she brought up a certain boy.

" Skíðblaðnir. Correct?"

On the other side of her was none other then that boy, Eolas Stuart. "_Gyaaaaaaahhhhhhhh! It's him... O-oh, crap! Oh, crap! Oh, crap! Oh, crap! Oh, crap! Oh, crap!"_

She knew that this would happen, this boy had spent time working with them in the past. He has analysed their capabilities and personalities. They also had the privilege to understand how that boy works, it was a way to gain trust between both parties. But now, that test to gain trust had turned on them. From what she seen and witnessed first had of this individual, he works incredibly quickly and has the ability to calculate possible solutions in his mind. Faster then any other normal individual. Let's take this point from the view of chess players; while an average player may think two to five steps ahead. This boy would figure out nearly seventeen steps ahead and also keep in mind possible moves made by the opponent.

Keeping this in mind, the mere information of them being in the London area would be enough for him to start tracking each member of New Light. But Lessar knew that wasn't the most dangerous aspect of this individual. His supernatural abilities was not magical in origin, she knew that he was an esper of Academy city. Not only that but he was the equivalent to a Saint on the Science side but with large amount of Magical knowledge. The way he was trained and the abilities he has displayed basically makes him the ultimate living anti-magical personal. If his past actions are to go by, this boy wasn't afraid to exert his capabilities and slaughter anyone that has gotten in his way.

There was many reasons to be afraid of this individual Lessar had thought. And her fears were clearly being expressed by her reactions, because too Lessar this boy was nothing but a monster. But she knew something had to be done, she couldn't allow her fear to stop her from the objective. The first thing that came to her mind was to ask a pretty reasonable question.

"H-how did... you.. find me?" Lessar asked fearfully. Eolas looked at her with a confused expression, by now he had already noticed the fear coming from Lessar and he didn't seemed to enjoy the effect he was having. While these were his thoughts, it had made him express an annoyed expression which only made Lessar feel even worse about her situation. By this point Mikoto Misaka had walked over next to Eolas with the case Lessar had guarded up to this point, seeing her moving with it had made her to move forward to try and grab it from Mikoto. But she was instantly stopped by an invisible force, it was like she was frozen in place and she knew it was due to Eolas' supernatural abilities of Telekinesis. In the grasp of his ability she knew that he can easily snap her neck, or even force her to strangle herself. There was no way at the moment for her to break out of this hold, specially when he's sitting right next to her on the bar. The closer Eolas is to his target, the stronger his hold is with his telekinesis. It may be possible to break out if they were on the opposite side of the bar. But that wasn't the case, she was clearly trapped and in his grasp.

You think Eolas would be the first one to speak, but it was actually Mikoto who Lessar didn't know about which spoke first regarding the situation. What she was going to say would be a surprise to Lessar.

"Skíðblaðnir? She seems rather attached to it, she may feel less frightened and more willing to talk if we allowed her to hold it."

Eolas shook his head in disagreement. He didn't explain why, but it was very obvious that this item was important and he respect Lessar's capabilities enough not to give it back. He feels she could slip away from his grasp, so instead he answered her earlier question. While doing the only thing he knew how to calm people down.

"Through the magic of Live CCTV."

He said while beginning to reach out with his left hand, while at the same time, Lessar closed her eyes in fear. She thought he was going to do it, he was going to kill her right here. But instead of doing just that, she was surprised from what happened. He had pattered her on the head, it was his way of trying to ease the situation.

"Because it would seem you've forgotten. As long the footage is live even with lag intervals of less then a second. Then I can manipulate anything I see with my telekinesis through CCTV. Telekinesis doesn't come from myself, but is created by manipulating surging power from the 11th dimension. That's my theory on it, but it's complicated so I'll explain it another time."

Eolas tried to explain for somebody who wasn't part of the esper world.

"But even with my understanding and control of my power. It's nigh impossible to do anything more then weakly move objects or tag someone with a speck of my ability. While I created telekinetic objects up close, from such a distance you were from the CCTV office, a small speck is all I could of managed. So basically I just followed that speck here like following an extension of my will. Had to be fast because if you started to move further away, the weaker it would of gotten. " Eolas explained further then removed his hand, which along with it a very small spark of light had appeared in it's grasp. This was the very same speck he used to tag Lessar from the live footage of CCTV. He kind of made it sound easy, but the process of hacking into the CCTV was impossible without Mikoto who was looking on curiously. If she didn't come with him, this attempt to find one of the New Light members would of been much harder.

While it wasn't an amazing method of tracking, which for him took Mikoto's hacking capabilities to pull off. The wide range of capabilities one could pull off with Telekinesis was amazing. Mikoto had thought about it for the moment and realised why his life turned out the way it did. It's becoming more clearer by the things Eolas can do is why he was chosen to become a weapon. With rosey cheeks she thought back only five minutes ago when they rushed here to catch Lessar. They had to cross the river thames and they was pushed for time because Lessar could of moved at any moment. The bridge to cross was far away, so embarrassingly he pulled her onto his back. Like he was giving her a piggy back ride and used his telekinetic power to launch them both to the other side of the river. For that moment it was like they both was flying, but she'd really thought he needs to warn her next time.

Considering nobody was saying anything, Eolas continued.

"You really don't now how to keep a low profile. So you was honestly very easy to spot via CCTV, you should of known that London has the most cameras in the world. And you do realise that it's because crime is quite high in this city? I knew the guy was a thief but you did go over board. Talk about embarrassing the guy."

Lessar had enough, there is a point where fear just translates into anger and she had crossed that line.

"I don't care! He was trying to take something which belongs to me and that girl is doing the same thing! But you at fault here. Who do you think everybody in this establishment will side with? Not even you will harm citizens that will harm relations between this country and Academy city!"

"You may not want to do that." Eolas said with a crafty expression. Which only made Lessar much more worried and shouted out loud to the entire bar.

"HELP THIS GUY IS HARASSING ME!"

Nearly the entire establish was now looking at the trio, they actually was going to help before Eolas stopped them with his words.

"My name is Eolas Stuart. Son of the Stuart Family, if you really intend to listen to this traitor then just understand you'll will share the same fate."

Dishearting words came from Eolas, which had halted the entire establishment of movement, Mikoto was the only one who didn't seemed surprised. And that is because of one simple fact. It was all planned ahead as they made their way here. You see, Eolas was never the one not to do some sort of home work and even before he came to England. His sister made sure he'd known the Stuart loyalty territory. They was in a part of London which was none other then a sub culture of groups loyal to the Stuart family. But not everybody there was from this area and that was proven by the fact when somebody shouted out they didn't care. They didn't care who this boy was and stepped forward to help the supposed traitor.

Few of them follow suit, seeing the little girl as the victim. Mikoto was readying herself to defend against any attacks, but she didn't have too. Those who were indeed loyal to the Stuart family turned on those who tried to help Lessar. Even if they were drinking buddies or acting friendly only moments before. Most of the patrons turned on the few who tried to help. And it didn't take long before they were all subdued. But it was a frightening authority, Eolas really didn't know if it would work. But as it showed there were people who would blindly follow the Stuart name. From this action alone in this single bar, Eolas had an idea what it must be like if The Stuarts fought each other. With such devote supporters to the Stuart name in the population, it most only caused total anarchy in the past. He thinks that had to be changed sooner rather then later.

But that wasn't important now, even Lessar realised that she was trapped between a group and Eolas Stuart. She also doesn't realise the capability of Mikoto Misaka. Was then any chance for Lessar to escape?

"Calm down... He doesn't intend to hurt you."

Lessar had heard from the girl who was with Eolas Stuart. From what she had noticed, that she was much more easier to approach then Eolas at this point. So she didn't look at him when she responded to Mikoto's words.

"... Then what does he intend to do?..."

Eolas responded instantly after Lessar had asked that question.

"...Today, is the day we change England..." he said which made Lessar to finally looked at him in response, who continued after gaining her attention. "Let's make a deal Lessar."

...

...

Roughly a Kilometer away from the bar which Lessar has been confronted by both Mikoto Misaka and Eolas Stuart. The leader of the group known as New Light, Bayloupe had been waiting at the subway station holding her head. She was obviously angry from what she was hearing through the spiritual communication device. At first she was more worried about gaining attention of the Anglican Church's 0th Parish or even the London Police. But something worse had incurred. She was cornered by a Stuart and not just a branch member but one of the Stuart siblings. Eolas Stuart.

Bayloupe knew full well about how dangerous that boy can become. She witness the horror he has inflicted first hand, which she was forced to work with him on a job. Knowing this she started to realise that Lessar may be out of the game already with him around. She'd thought that was the case unless that man would do his job, he was brought on to deal with any Stuart members. Laura Stuart the head of the 0th Parish wasn't even inside central London. So she wasn't a direct threat, other then that she is the one giving orders to agents of the 0th Parish. So that man should only need to focus on Eolas Stuart.

Upon thinking about the situation with Lessar and Eolas Stuart, the man she had met earlier before entering London was seen walking in the complete opposite direction of where Lessar was located.

"What the hell is that man doing! I KNEW HE WOULD BE USELESS!"

She couldn't but help slam her fist against the wall before walking into the subway Station. The stairway into the subway area was surrounded on three sides by walls. It was almost midnight and the time for the last train must have been nearing because a large number of company workers and drunks were pouring down the stairway. Amongst it all, she had decided to wait inside next to the station help sign and then focused on the meter long bag hanging on her back and the old rectangular case lying on the floor at her feet.

"Lessar may already be out of the game, I can no longer can hear her pleas for help through the Spiritual communication device. It's not too damaging, we need at least one of these activated. I can only wait for Lancis to get in contact, gah this is going to be hard as we don't know the coordinates until the last second. Not only that, it's very likely that the Stuarts are going to come down on London like a furious tide, not just the main family but also the many branch families as well. That man needs to do something, or this entire operation will be over before it gets started."

She sighed and folded her arms as she watched the company workers walk by. Among the many typical English security officers, she caught sight of the occasional Japanese person. The black hair stood out amid all the blond heads. Her eye was naturally drawn to them and, once the number of heads with black hair grew to 8 or 9, she realized that everyone around her was Japanese.

"Crap..!?"

Having been surrounded, Bayloupe looked to the bag on her back. One girl stepped forward from the group of Japanese and approached Bayloupe.

"We are from Necessarius, the 0th Parish of the Anglican Church. Do you understand?" The girl, who stepped forward said she was Itsuwa of the Amakusa Church. Despite the fact she was among the crowd of people walking by, she was already wielding a cross spear. But the reason for this bold action became clear, suddenly all those typical English security officers and anybody with a type of uniform had stopped and turned towards Bayloupe. She hadn't realised that each and every one of them was a fanatic supporter of the Stuart household. Just like that bar was in Stuart loyal territory, she wasn't that far away from the bar so this place was also in that territory.

In response to that introduction and the sudden increasingly number of people surrounding her position, Bayloupe forced a frightening a smile with her arms still folded.

"…So they already caught on this fast?"

...

...

...

...

A golden carriage which often symbolizes royalty was heading down a dark path, there was barely any street lights about and this was some distance away from the center of London. The carriage was not alone. With the large carriage at the center, there were about a dozen carriages in a row. The carriages weren't particularly armoured, but the cavalry-like horses flanking them were covered in formal protectors.

This scene had echoed the times of old, which would be a common sight in the medieval era. Despite giving that old feeling, they were going pretty fast and it had nothing to do with the carriages themselves. The old pathway they were using had been constructed with magical circles at fixed intervals. This had gave them ability to move much quicker then normal.

The carriages were coloured with gold leaf and other precious metals giving them an unreal glitter, but what stood out the most was the same large golden carriage in the middle that was travelling with a large number of guards. That was known as the travelling fortress.

Inside this golden carriage was three women. They were Second Princess Carissa, Third Princess Villian and Index.

"…So our older sister really didn't come."

Carissa muttered while gazing out the window. Who seemed so relaxed in the carriage, that she was taken up the space that normally fit three people. Which in contrast, Villan was trying her best to fit in a space for half a person.

"She finds it a bit hard to trust people" Villian responded.

"I wouldn't call that 'a bit'. Even if you prepared her a carriage strong enough to last for 3 days even if you threw it into the sun, she would still factor in a risk of attack."

"Isn't that why, though? She is the kind of person that refuses to trust in security that someone else set up. If you prepare it all for her like that, she is not going to get in it. She cannot trust things that she cannot check on for herself. …You do know she detached her private room at Windsor Castle and rearranged it as she saw fit, right?"

"I can understand getting a pet just to get an idea what it's like, but she is constantly sneaking out of the palace and into the city."

"I believe she said that the words of townspeople who do not know who she is hold no malice."

"Hmph," said Carissa. "Right now the Eurotunnel is more important than her anyway."

Carissa glanced over at Index who was idly kicking her feet because she had nothing to do.

"Even though our country is protected by Curtana Second, it is not guaranteed to have eternal prosperity. Even with the people obeying the queen as the leader of the angels and the knights as an army of angels, the country will still cease to function if a large number of people riot. And we can't exactly wipe them all out with a great flood like in the scriptures. It's also why we fear the infighting between the Stuarts."

"…"

"To avoid a crisis like that, the knights work in the public view and, when the knights fail, the church works in secret to keep the peace in various ways. If those options fail and we royals are powerless to make a change. They step in and take the reigns of the country. But they're the last option, but so far nothing really has pushed this country to that point. However, the death of the Stuart head, Eurotunnel bombing, and the attempted terrorist attack on the passenger plane back to back have been more than enough to shake the people of our country. If this continues even further, this country would be ravaged and when the Stuarts organise themselves they would likely commit a purge."

"But," Villian carefully chose her words, "Putting them aside, even if France was involved in that series of events, the Roman Catholic Church most likely influenced them. What will only blaming France solve?"

"You may be right, but even if someone else is pulling the strings, France needs to be stopped." Carissa folded her arms. "The Vatican is strong. We can't bring it down quickly, so the only other option is a drawn out war. For that, we need to create a supply base on the front lines. That makes this a geographic issue. We have to do whatever it takes to get France to 'cooperate' so we can construct a base right in front of the Vatican."

It was true, Vatican city was like a city wide fortress. Comparable to the defences at Windsor Palace and the Stuart Manor on a city scale. But this only made Index think about what a certain boy had said days ago.

_..._

_"Two years ago I had the intention of destroying the darkness of this city. But I learned a very hard lesson that I can never do it properly on my own. So I had an idea a month ago, why not utilise the very traits that this city spent so much Yen and time to develop... Project Imperator... do you know what the first step of that involved? ... The total and complete destruction of **Vatican city**."_

_Eolas was saying some pretty heavy stuff, the very thought of it was frightening to himself. Because he knew that if it wasn't for meeting Mikoto at a young age, that was most likely of already been completed at this stage._

_"That's right. This city was planning mass warfare on a scale not seen since World war 2. They did take myself at a young age and trained me to become a weapon of war.** They also intended for me to lead an army of clones to use in the invasion of Vatican city.** But thankfully these lot..."_

_..._

It was easy to think of what may happened if what Eolas said was true, how these current events would be changed. Weighing the possible outcomes even Index started to think that it was good that Vatican city was destroyed. She knew there are powers which needed to be contained and that city acts like a lid on the those dangers. Index knew that terrorist attacks and civil strife in one country would be the least of their worries.

The discussion continued between the princesses.

"Aren't you forgetting the option of creating a large scale supply base on the Mediterranean and simply applying pressure?"

"France is the one guarding the Mediterranean. That would still require quieting them down. Also, a sea fortress would require guarding against attack both from the air and within the sea, so I wouldn't really call it a realistic option. There is also the issue of strength. If a land base's walls are broken, they can be closed up again, but a single hole can sink one on the sea."

Villian frowned uneasily and brought her hands up to her chest.

"…We can request for cooperation from France. Is this really something that can only be solved militarily?"

"If you really think it isn't, just tell me how."

Villian looked up after hearing Carissa's words.

"Our sister specializes in her intellect, I specialize in the military, and you specialize in that benevolence of yours. This kind of method is naturally all that comes to my mind, but you may be able to find a more effective method. …Perhaps even one to deal with the Roman Catholic Church as well as France and maybe even 'them'."

"Sister…"

"And to gather the information needed to make a decision, we need to investigate the cause of the Eurotunnel explosion. If you want to lead us to the best solution, make sure you stay focused. We'll be in Folkestone soon. We're almost to the Eurotunnel terminal that connects to Dover."

...

...

...

The leader of New Light, Bayloupe had found herself surrounded by members of the 0th Parish and fanatics of the Stuart family. She was confronted first by Itsuwa of the Amakusa church, but despite Bayloupe position she wasn't moving for one who is willing to give up.

"We are a sect that focuses on blending in with the environment. This also makes us proficient in the techniques needed to find those who do not belong. These skills were originally used for early detection of spies of the shogunate mixed in with the townspeople, though."

"Tch. I see. So you're affiliated with them. The 0th Parish really does just gather whatever personnel it can, doesn't it?"

"We will have you accompany us to the Tower of London. Just in case, would you like to verify what you are being charged with?"

"No thanks."

Bayloupe smirked and put her hands in her pockets. In a motion much like putting on headphones, she attached what looked a bit like hearing aids behind her ears. However, on each side, there were two of what looked like vacuum tubes sticking out of them.

"Until this case is activated…"

With her special ears or what could be considered horns, Bayloupe stuck the tip of her foot into the handle of the rectangular case lying on the ground.

"I have no intention of being captured!"

She kicked the case up into the air and grabbed it with one hand. Using that motion as a sign, Itsuwa unreservedly struck with her spear. She was aiming to thrust the spear into the joint between Bayloupe's right shoulder and right arm.

A roar of sliced air resounded.

But Bayloupe's soft flesh was not torn.

This was due to the bag hanging from her shoulder. In response to her will, it tore from the inside and she swung the weapon inside horizontally. The weapon couldn't quite be called a spear and it couldn't quite be called a hand. It was a long metal pole with four blades stuck on the end. It struck Itsuwa's spear causing sparks to fly and the two of them were knocked back.

"…!?"

Along with the high pitched clang caused by the blow, the Japanese surrounding Itsuwa and Bayloupe pulled out their hidden swords and Stuart fanatics stood there doing nothing, like they were just there to watch. Nonetheless Bayloupe was surrounded by sinister shining steel, but she still smiled fearlessly. She put even more strength into the hand holding her weapon.

She swung her weapon by rotating her entire body.

Itsuwa stood at the ready, but the attack was not aimed for any of the Amakusas. Bayloupe destroyed the concrete wall she had been leaning up against previously.

The stairway down to the subway was surrounded by walls on three sides and Bayloupe's intentions in smashing the wall like a biscuit were clear.

She was going to flee. But the moment she managed to get to a clearing, she was pulled back like she was a piece of magnetic metal by a giant magnet and thrown back into the middle of the chaos. It was the Stuart fanatics, these individuals seemed to have pulling powers, which isn't like telekinesis. Truth to be told, many people seem to have the bright idea of escaping Stuart members in the past. So to stop that from happening many of the supporters who would help the main members in time of crises. Was taught this magic, to trap their targets in a circle of fanatic supporters. Bayloupe knew she was good and she could handle any of them one on one.

But this would turn into a battle of attrition. She really didn't count on the quick formation of the Stuart supporters and if it wasn't for that useless man. She wouldn't be in this position. This only made her angry and she wasn't intending to sit down in defeat. She was going to fight her way out of this trap she found herself in. But the moment she stood back up, she felt sick like somebody had directly poised her and she turned to see other supporters pointing their left hand to her.

Another one of Stuart fanatic tricks, it was fatal but it would put her out cold after too long. Despite it she pulled herself up on her feet with a sinister smile. She had taken the case into both of her hands.

"You stand in the way of needed change, with this here we can change the history of this country. We will change the royal family, the knights, the church, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. And not only just that. This change will wipe that blasted family from the face of the Earth. The true traitors to this country are the Stuarts, they feel their right to rule from the shadows. But do you really think everything they do is to protect this country? Do you think this current system is good for this country? IT'S CHAOS! Factions who despise the presence of each other held by the family who see them nothing but pawns!" Bayloupe roared in defiance.

She knew that it's impossible to escape a Stuart fanatic trap like this one, if she did manged to the members of the 0th Parish like Itsuwa were capable of stopping her. She had to admit it, she was trapped and the only way out was through them. If it's come to it, then she thought she had no choice but to move the contents in the case to the other member's cases.

"Sometimes Chaos is necessary to move forward" A sinister voice spoke from the side, which caught everybody by surprised and before Bayloupe, Itsuwa or anybody could respond. A concentrated magical surge looked like it ripped through the ground and headed straight for the middle of the Parish and Stuart fanatic forces. It had blown them all away from the sheer impact and even torn through some of the targets like butter. Bayloupe seemed to come out of it unharmed like it never happened. Quickly looking around as the chaos died down, she found all those who previously surrounded her either killed or injured and incapacitated on the floor. The surroundings was completely wrecked further then what she had did.

That is when the man finally showed up, the blasted man who she claimed was completely useless. Still with his face hidden, you can only see the glaring intent of his eyes under the shadow of his hood.

"Earl? What did you just do?"

"Fenris' Claw. Germanic type spell with Norse influence. It basically a magical blade which soars for all that the caster deems as a target. And it will not stop until it's at least come in contact with all the targets. Even if one would managed to dodge it, the magic would simply turn it self around and give chase..." Bayloupe was quickly reminded of the capabilities of that man. She wondered if she heard what she had said. But he didn't mention it at all. "Come on girl. Haven't you got work to do?"

Earl A. Stout had said before heading in the direction he came. But was suddenly stopped by Bayloupe who seemed to snapped out of shock.

"Wait what about Lessar? She's..."

"In the hands of Eolas Stuart I know." Earl had said while taking out a cigarette with the intention to smoke. "Then why aren't you going to do your part..." Bayloupe reacted angrily. It was then when he lighted his cigarette and after taking a puff he had answered. "Because I have no intention to start a fight until I'm certain I can win." And with those words said Bayloupe had noticed another with him. He was standing in the distant shadows but she was sure she could see William Orwell.

"But... That boy is going to pay for his interference..."

After speaking those words, all three of them had left the area. It took over ten minutes before someone else had come to that area. It was none other then Kanzaki who had arrived at the scene with reinforcements. But obviously she was too late, despite her previous intention she quickly ordered the others to help the wounded. She had known this was Itsuwa's group and went to her upon seeing her trying to get back up on her feet.

"Kanzaki, I'm sorry, she had help."

Kanzaki didn't say much until she had gotten Itsuwa on her feet.

"It's fine, thanks to Sherry and Oriana we know what they up too from their other members. Only two remain..."

Itsuwa had heard the conversation earlier with those who had escaped, she was able to correct Kanzaki.

"Only One remain, boy named Eolas Stuart has caught one of their members."

This came to a surprise to Kanzaki, she didn't expect him to be on ball that fast.

...

...

...

Eolas, Lessar and Mikoto who still had the briefcase in her hands had left the bar. They were outside on their own and Lessar doesn't seemed to be restrained by Eolas any more. In fact it seemed the entire mood between them three had changed. Lessar had looked less angry and frightened. Still concerned by she wasn't in the mindset to run or at least continue with her objective.

"I'm telling you that is the situation. Look I have agreed to accept your deal because of what you intend, but you better not be insulting my intelligence. She has the 5th case, Princess..." Lessar had already explained half way what was going on, but like time has slowed down for him the moment he sad a red light head straight for Lessar. If Eolas put all his focus into it, his mind quickly translates what he was seeing and he recognised it almost immediately. Robin hood. And he responded just as fast and caught it with his telekinesis. The impact while not large had made Lessar jump from her place and behind Mikoto. She wasn't going to hide behind Eolas any time soon, from how Mikoto has been treating her she seemed more of a safe bet.

"What was that? You said you weren't going to hurt me if I..."

Eolas quickly asked her to be silent as he looked in the direction the light had come from. It was far down the street, but it was too dark too see. But his assumption was confirmed when another Robin Hood ability surged for him. But it was easily stopped by a Telekinetic barrier. He turned to Mikoto who also seen what was happening...

"Miko-Chan..." Eolas had said which she nodded in response and while still holding the case in her right hand she stepped forward leaving a confused Lessar. She took out a very familiar arcade coin gracefully and launched her iconic Railgun ability down the street. This wasn't a direct attack, but a warning shot but also to create light as it soared down the street...

"Those are Knights..."

Eolas said in confusion who saw a few knights in positions down the street. But just as Railgun had passed them, they seemed to be retreating. Then with a told you so attitude, Lessar spoke up from behind.

"I told you so! Look when I make a deal to ensure my safety, then I see through it to the end. You should start trusting me, because you got to be fair. It's very hard to trust you after what I seen you do... If it wasn't for that girl with you. Mikoto right? I would take my chances and escaped... So listen to me... Those knight are under the orders of Princess Carissa, she has the 5th case."

Silence fell between them as Lessar was waiting for Eolas' response. Mikoto was also wondering what they should do next, and once again she was the only one willing to confront him about it.

"Eolas? What should we do?"

He seemed confused, but it wasn't because he didn't understand the situation. He was just quickly thinking of what may happen depending on the actions he would take. If it's true that a Princess is behind all this then this could mean trouble. Specially with that certain object in her hands. He remember clearly being taught about that item many years ago. But that wasn't his only concern, if she gets that item and also have a piece of Avalon in her which he is only assuming at this point. Then she would be completely unstoppable. But in the face of that possible outcome he didn't care, because a friend of his maybe in trouble.

"We have to get too Index."

...

...

...

Folkestone was a port town about some distance from London. In that city was the terminal to the Eurotunnel, the undersea tunnel that cut across the Strait of Dover.

Many carriages were stopped near the terminal that was wrapped in darkness. They were the carriage for the royal family and the ones guarding it. A number of military horses along with a few dozen knights wearing silver armor were waiting there as well.

There was no light in the entrance, expected when it had recently been bombed. Index was headed towards it. A bit away, a young maid was handing a thermos of tea to Third Princess Villian. That was when Knight Leader's eyebrows twitched.

**He looked down at the rectangular case he was holding.**

He checked the weight of the case and then moved silently over to the second princess. Still holding the case, he whispered in Carissa's ear.

"It has arrived."

"I see."

Second Princess Carissa gave a slight smile, Knight leader carried on speaking so that no one else could hear.

"From our monitoring of electronic and magical communications, it seems the church mistakenly believes that New Light intends to activate a large-scale anti-European attack spell by assassinating a princess. While Stuart family seems to think that some of their members had already begun fighting."

"Hah. And yet that ridiculous legend of assassinating a princess isn't completely true."

"If we really had such destructive magic, the negotiations would have gone much more easily. And more than anything, we would simply need a plan to ensure that the people weren't killed so easily. And I guess we can't complain about the Stuart families' capability. One of their branch members is helping us out, too bad he doesn't realise I was using him."

Carissa moved her right arm so as to quiet the man and her smile deepened.

"Convey this to the knights hidden all across the country."

That was the sign.

That single command would burn a nation down from the inside.

"Begin the invasion. I now have Curtana Original, the sword that decides the king, within my grasp. This makes me, Carissa, the true ruler of the United Kingdom. Anyone that does not want to see the country decay under the rule of the previous pacifist queen and the self-serving Stuarts, then stand up of your own will. To bring about the new United Kingdom, levelling some things will be necessary and some destruction will be necessary."

...

...

...

Upon Carissa making that declaration, numerous explosions had occurred in London. These weren't part of her intention, but only happened in synic with her actions. In fact these were the actions of a certain mysterious Saint. Earl Arthur Stout...

_"But... That boy is going to pay for his interference..."_

Carissa wasn't even aware of these attacks and nor was anyone else. Specially Mikoto and Eolas Stuart. You see one of the explosions had happened in the very hotel where Touma, Misaki and Sarah were staying.

* * *

The fires of civil war begins and Carissa's plan is underway. But what happens when some of the titans that will soon dominate this upcoming war comes into confrontation? We about to find out next next... Also are Touma, Misaki and Sarah alright?

You probably already noticed how differently the outcome of this conflict is turning. I'll let you wonder about the deal struck with Lessar and it shouldn't be hard to figure out if you understand all Eolas' intentions.

Speaking of Storm, the floods did knock out my power briefly but it was quickly fixed. But not fast enough to post this yesterday, in fact it happened midday today so... yeah.

**Next Chapter** - The Storm erupts as battle lines are drawn.


	13. Storm erupts as Battle lines are drawn!

**Chapter 13** - The Storm erupts as Battle lines are drawn.

...On Saturday the 18th...

...Barely an hour into this new day...

...And under the cover of darkness...

...The sound of four explosions occurred simultaneously across London...

... This will mark a sudden change in this country forever...

**"Sometimes Chaos is necessary to move forward**" - Earl Arthur Stout

...

Barely seconds after the explosions occurred across London, various things also happened around the country. For Northern Ireland such cites like Belfast, Enniskillen and Londonderry, all the hospitals, police stations and other important facilities were blocked by numerous security personal being either police or soldiers. They were all people who supported the knights, or the second princess and probably hated the Stuarts. The civilians mostly stayed indoors in fear of the unusual atmosphere and while some did go outside to watch out of curiosity. This also served as a distraction while security personal infiltrated and killed many Stuart supporters who resisted. This was easily done due to the weak support for them in this region. However they wouldn't have that luck anywhere else in the UK.

Many important places and facilities in Scotland were invaded by knights, armed police and soldiers supporting the second princess. Places like Holyrood Palace and Edinburgh castle. The former Agnese forces who were investigating hide outs belonging to New Light were completely surrounded by a overwhelming number of knights. While clashes between knights and Stuart supporters and forces started to occur across the high lands and many of the Scottish isles. Specially in Orkney where a large scale amphibious assault was launched against the Stuart dominated Island.

The same again in the region of Wales many of the important places and facilities were invaded. Like Cardiff Castle, Swansea Castle, Oystermouth Castle, Conwy Castle, Penrhyn Castle, Beaumaris Castle, Caernafron Castle and every kind of fortress in Wales. While most of them had easily fell into the hands of the knights, stalemates quickly accrued at Penrhyn castle and Caernafron Castle. There wasn't much reason to note the taking of the local assembly and courthouses, but they were met with fierce local resistance as the support for Stuarts is high within Wales.

Then there was England, where the largest amount of Knights were focused and the strongest support for the Stuarts were also placed. And it was like all at once across the entire land of England, most of its cities and towns had embroiled in fierce fighting. Naturally due to the element of surprise in most areas, the knights had the advantage even without counting the effect of Curtana Original. The situation quickly become mixed across the country, while many of Stuart Strongholds are holding their ground. It was obvious the advantage of the knights were going to overwhelm even them sooner or later. There fate was not also help due to the infighting of the Stuart families, who are refusing to support each other if they didn't support the right sibling. And Earl Arthur Stout had also split the Stuart support into three. This had resulted in the capture of places like St George's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and other political important locations like Buckingham Palace and parliament. But due to their close proximity, Windsor Castle and the Stuart Manor had escape any incursions.

Specially at the Stuart manor which a force of knights did attempt an invasion to capture it, but were literally annihilated by the Manor's defences and Stuart forces. It was still surprising those the knights of how quickly the Stuart loyal forces had retaliated across the country. Their support base was split in half due to recent events and was mostly caught by surprised. It became rather clear why the Stuart name had dominated the country for so long.

Despite being caught off-guard and split the Stuart forces were putting up a serious fight against the increasingly overwhelming force that is the Knights of England, empowered by Curtana Original. But it wasn't like the Anglican Church in Necessarius allowed these invasions to commence with no resistance. For Necessarius, the fight was not one of having the church and the knights clash and continue to fight until one of the sides was defeated. After receiving the knights' sudden surprise attack, the Anglican Church had decided not to waste unnecessary strength by forcefully return their normal conditions. Instead, they were preserving their strength and waiting for a chance to fight back. They were even helped by various Stuart supporters due to Laura's position as head. But a stark contrast many who expected help from them found a striking reminder about the current internal conflict within the Stuart support base.

It was a complex situation, in normal circumstances when it comes to uprisings. The Stuarts will harshly put the rebellion down and quickly. But for a long while this was the time where they both was suffering strife and facing an uprising of this scale. Specially when the leader of the rebellion holds the sword Curtana Original. Since Laura heads the 0th parish in these time of crises, that faction expects support from the Stuart support base. But due to recent events, they were cut off from that support.

And not from Stuart member's decision. Mostly because it would be ludicrous to take the risk, the support based has been split into two. While Laura's supporters would help, Eolas' supporters will not do a thing, until he declares a position to take and already in the last few minutes since the rebellion kicked off. Many members of the church had been captured due to turning to Stuart support on the wrong side. And either way, both sides were only protecting their own interests and not actively fighting the knights back. Not at least until their own internal problems are sorted. So the church were basically on their own.

The church also knew they would lose if it came to a simple comparison of power, so they had taken the truly important items from the churches, cathedrals and gathered together to speedily evacuate while putting up local resistance. The knights and the church were both one of the factions making up the country. However, the knights now had a higher rank within the United Kingdom. Within the country, the queen was recognized as the leader of the angels and the knights following her were recognized as angels. The church was using normal magic and the knights had the power of the angels, so they would surely wipe each other out if they had a full-on confrontation. Even with Stuart support. There was a high risk that if things carry on as they are now. Then it's possible that the church could collapse, specially if Laura fails to win the internal battle within her family. Because of all these problems and more, the magicians were disappearing into the night and waiting for a good opportunity to strike.

But what of the former public leader of the country and the head of the 0th Parish and currently the Stuart Family. Both the Queen and Archbishop were within Windsor castle, Laura had left Stuart manor earlier to meet the Queen. Like the manor; Windsor castle was a magical fortress and both leaders were inside drinking tea. Neither of them were aware of the full picture, but they was slowly getting the news. And despite that they both were the only ones there. Everything should be fine, it is a magical fortress after all. Just in case both of them were magically locked in their current room. It was an extremely high level lock worthy of guarding the royal family.

But the problem was that really meant nothing, without those who were supposed to be operating those protections. The knights were those people, who had betrayed the Queen to follow the second Princess. Both of them really didn't bother to flee, it was too late. The torches lit up outside from many of the knights that use to belong to the Queen, the moment the rebellion begun. If they escaped it would only delay the inevitable and their magical lock was the only thing they could do. But again it meant nothing without those supposedly supporting it.

Annoyed about the current situation Laura stood up after slamming her empty cuppa on the table.

"…Really now. This isn't something I expected. We investigated whispers of civil war a month ago and those whispering it were crushed. So If these were the same people, why now?" Laura grabbed a month old newspaper which had an article about terrorist attack on Academy city, being stopped by a certain boy. "His return to public life had made everybody to think twice. Even the Roman Catholic church had to suspend their talk of war. Basically this past month was to either prepare to counter my brother or find ways to use him... All I wanted to do by summoning him here was to heal the rifts in our family and to deal with what father left behind. I even ensured Index came here to not only check on the recent Terrorist attacks, but to help with exactly what our Father left behind. I'm sure somewhere in that head of hers there is an answer..." She grunted before sitting herself back down. "I guess since the knights are so involved, I suppose this was the second princess."

"Yes. She may be my daughter, but this was a splendidly a crafty tactic. She truly does have talent for that kind of thing."

"How about you stop taking pride in your daughter when she's about to strangle you? So what are you going to do? You still have the power of Curtana Second, right?"

"Only about a fifth of it. The rest was taken by Curtana Original."

The queen looked over at a sword with no blade and no tip that was at her side.

"If we fought now, Curtana Second would be cut in two. This one was a makeshift version made as a replacement for the Original when it was lost, so the power wasn't really taken away so much as it was returned to its rightful place. It was unnatural for the power to be in my sword." Elizard tapped the side of the sword with her index finger and her voice turned somewhat cheerful. "But she really did well to excavate the Original. In the hundreds of years since it was lost in that revolution" The Queen stated while smirking at Laura, she was referring to English civil war between 1642–1651. This is because it had involved a certain 'Stuart' Monarch. While no Stuart members would admit connection, it became well known that Laura's ancestor hid the sword away before being beheaded. "The successive kings and queens have attempted to search for it, but they never even found a hint. Come to think of it, New Light specializes in Norse spells, don't they? In that case, they may have used a spell for searching for gold veins that had been passed down in relation to the Dvergr. At any rate, now that Curtana Original has been brought back, I have no hope of winning if it comes down to a swordfight. But... if we had that blade there would be no contest." The Queen went out while looking at Laura carefully.

Laura shrugged at her suggestions and looked away

"I suppose you talking about 'The Sword that creates Miracles'. Is just mere fantasy and if it is real none of us have any right wielding it."

"It didn't stop your ancestors from taking Avalon." The Queen responded pointing out the fact if that item exists then that blade surely does.

"That's not the point, even if we all did have the right. We have no clue where it currently resides, if legend is anything to go by then the last of his knights took the blade away in his dying moments. At hi..."

Just when Laura was about to finish explaining her opinion on that legend, the large doors opened wide without even a knock. The magical lock had been destroyed as the door was opened. About a dozen fully equipped knights entered with their swords already drawn. It went beyond the realm of bad manners and into the realm of a mugging.

One of the knights spoke.

"Most of the major instituations of london and the entire country are under our country. Even the well regarded Stuart loyal institutions are being slowly captured. In other words, we have taken most of the bases of the royal family, church and even your precious Stuart family."

Laura smirked at the idea, while the Queen had to comment.

"I see. So you didn't come in her to instantly execute Laura right beside me. Because you know if you kill a main branch member, then there will be no limit to the uprising of Stuart fanatics. Oh no..." Brief look towards the knight told the Queen the entire story." That didn't go according to plan? Despite having the clear advantage and with no clear picture of that ending. You didn't actually underestimate their power base?"

The knight reluctantly nodded slightly in response to Elizard's words. It seemed that as long as the queen did not try to cut the knights down they still held a certain amount of respect for her despite opposing her.

"If you do not resist, you will not be needlessly harmed. Please wisely choose the path that avoids any unnecessary bloodshed."

"You must have it tough," said Queen Elizard with a sigh of exasperation despite having the tip of a sword pointed at her. "That isn't Carissa's way of doing things. If you don't accurately pass on what she said, she won't be happy."

"…"

"I'm sure my daughter's order was something like this: Tell her to surrender in as businesslike a way as you can and if she doesn't, kill her. Also…I know. She would tell you to show no mercy if you determined you had to kill me and to swiftly kill me even if it meant getting civilian gardeners or other workers wrapped up in it. I'm sure she said at least that much."

A slight creaking noise came from the armor on the back of the knight's hand. The assassin of a knight tightened his grip on his sword and squeezed out a voice.

"…Hand over Curtana Second and come under our supervision. …You too, Stuart woman!"

"Heh heh. Not only do I lead one of the three factions just like the queen, but I'm currently the de facto leader of the most powerful country to every walk in this country. Yet you treat me far differently then the so beloved Queen."

"We could just cut you down here. We are being merciful."

Laura's expression did not change in response to the knight's threat. As she watched the queen put Curtana Second in a scabbard prepared by the knight, she seemed calm. Then suddenly she moved slightly in shock to a message, she had a hidden spiritual communication device. And when she heard only echoed through her mind and she couldn't help but smile in response. She then spoke to her old friend Elizard.

Laura smiled and spoke to her old friend Elizard.

"I'm really sorry, but it would seem the second Princess has sealed her fate. Doomed."

The Queen looked at Laura with an unmoving expression but the same knight spoke up angrily.

"What are you saying? There is no way you can do anything now."

Laura then let a cruel laughter to the knight's words.

"When it comes to my family, the only thing you managed to have done is awaken the sleeping giant. You'll soon learn there are things in this country which will only lead to the devouring of your very existence. But let's leave that aside for now, you may of captured me. But you need to know there is more then one Lion that stalks this land. And forces loyal to your princess has attacked his precious friends. Let's hope they survive, unless you don't mind dieing before reaching Christmas."

...

...

...

A few minutes before the explosions. Eolas, Mikoto and Lessar started to head south towards where Index and the Second Princess should be investigating the tunnel. They took their time mainly because Eolas was using this time to think. If this whole rebellion situation is true, then that spiritual item the second princess has could be unstoppable if she also has a piece of Avalon.

While he was thinking about their next move, Lessar was still walking with Mikoto with good reason. She was still not really comfortable enough being near Eolas. For good reason considering his past. But she was very curious about the girl he was with. Because if anybody knew Eolas in his activities for many years and before he team up with Misaki. Eolas did most of his missions solo and the times he did work with others, only resulted in him using them like a typical Stuart would. However unknown too Lessar, Eolas was a very different person from back then.

_"Pssst. So who are you too him?"_ Lessar asked quietly, not knowing that Eolas could hear her talking. But he continues to act ignorant. Mikoto looked surprised by the sudden question and responded like she was playing an automatic message. _"Huh. What do you mean? We known each other since we were five years old."_ Lesser after hearing this crossed her arms and nodded her head twice. _"So that might be it. I never thought this guy, would so willing accept help."_

Mikoto took a minute before answering and while showing no signs he can hear them both. Eolas started to look down with regret, it was like he knew what Mikoto was thinking. While still with a quiet tone, she'd responded to Lessar.

"_He still has trouble accepting help. Even now despite what has happened and has been said. He feel there is a need to shoulder his burdens to himself. I don't know if he realise there are people out there who're willing to help him."_ At that moment she thought back too her conversation with Sarah earlier. _"He needs to understand that his behaviour is only hurting those who care for him."_ Lessar was looking at Mikoto dumbfounded, she didn't think about it in that way. She was referring to how Eolas just doesn't work well in a team. He never needed too in the past. _"You make him sound like he is human. You'd supposed to have known him since you was five right? Then why do act like you never seen his true self? Typical I knew that he couldn't be trusted, he got you convinced that hes so kind that it's making you worry about him. What you going to do when he spits you out when hes..."_

You can tell Mikoto was going to burst out in anger to Lessar's words, but before she could Eolas interrupted Lessar with a calm demeanour. What he is going to say was sort of off mark, but it was to address the fact Lessar still sees him as the Eolas in the past and not who he is right now.

"Lessar... There is a level of power in this world which should never be wielded by mortal hands... A Power that slowly eats away at you and even the very light itself." He turned to Lessar who seemed unamused but was hooked on his words and Mikoto who barely manages to hide her concern from his words and that he probably heard what she said."And yet certain people are pushing those like me to achieve that level of power. BUT! I'm not going to use that as an excuse for my actions. It was all still done by me. And I regret everything that I had done, and I live with that regret every single day."

Lessar let out a sigh in response, she understand what Eolas was saying. That his actions were not exactly his own by choice. But still, as he said himself. Eolas still did what he did and because of that it's hard to trust him. "Alright, don't expect me to trust you though." Eolas smiled briefly and the place his left hand on the back of his head. "Well that's good, who I thought you was being stupid for trusting me so suddenly earlier. While I'm glad you cooperating with me, but what I did to you and New Light. I would put a mile long pole between us." Lessar looked away before responding. "Don't give me any ideas."

She then thought of something suddenly which she also forgotten to ask.

"Oh yeah. They call me Lessar, I don't know your name yet" She said looking towards Mikoto, which made Eolas stumble on his feet in response. And he interrupted just as Mikoto was about to answer... "Mikoto ..." "Princess..." Eolas looked rather shamed for saying the first word in his mind when it comes to Mikoto. But he went with it. "Mikoto Princess. But I just call her Princess... Yeah..." He came up with this word due to their earlier conversation when Mikoto asked about the three princesses and he hinted at the fact he met four. Which she'd realised he was talking about him. This sudden name had made the situation awkward and you can tell by Mikoto's rosey cheeks. Lessar was clueless on what was going on and when she looked at Mikoto. Eolas took the chance to silently tell her too shhh... he planned to explain his actions later. Which was for a good reason.

But that explanation had to wait, for it was this moment to which would mark a stark change in the country. The sound of four explosions could be heard across the city of London. The most distant ones sounded like the roar of thunder, but it was no strike of lightning which caused it. And It didn't take long for the smoke to rise to the sky and through the light of the shining stars, even the moon. Eolas seen all four clouds of smoke but was fixated on one.

"Isn't that the direction to the hotel?" Mikoto said in a panic, Eolas briefly took his phone out in response and noticed the lack of signal. Turning away from both Mikoto and Lesser, he continued walking while gritting his teeth. Both girls quickly hurried after him. Mikoto wanted a confirmation on her fears and shouted his name to get his attention.

"Eolas!"

He didn't stop walking when he finally responded.

"Don't worry... I left Touma and Misaki with a way to contact with my sister, she has agents watching the hotel when we left. If their place was bombed they know before it actually happened."

That's right. They would know before it actually happened. That is what he'd thought and that is what he convinced himself to what happened. He had no choice but to believe in his own words, even when he knew that an explosion did come from the direction of his hotel. He was hoping for one time in his life, that his sister will pull through on this matter. That those she left guarding the hotel were competent enough to protect them. He knew that Misaki and Touma could handle themselves. And he knew Misaki would not allow anything harm Sarah, but he still couldn't help but feel worried for all three of them. He was putting his trust in his... family... He hopes that he will not regret it.

...

...

...

Index was inside the Eurotunnel running below the Strait of Dover, where the terrorist attack on the tunnel occurred. The railway ran beanth her feet. The tunnel actually ran a few kilometers before heading into the sea, but Index stopped after heading only about 20 meters down from the tunnel entrance. The path was surrounded by iron and concrete, but it suddenly ended. She was actually a good distance away from where the tunnel had been broken, but the sea water that had poured in had come all the way there because that location was lower than ground level.

The Eurotunnel had been thoroughly split in three by explosions in two different places. Due to that dark sea water that seemed to be sucking in the darkness, the actual point of the explosions couldn't be reached.

Index spoke while looking at the sea water cutting off the tunnel.

"A Roman Catholic spell based on the legend of the House of Loreto was used as a symbol of destruction."

The Virgin Mary was said to have lived in a certain house in a certain city in Italy. The house was famous for disappearing on its own and appearing on its own and the legend said that the house had teleported twice in the past.

"However, it looks like the spell to 'move a building' had an incomplete effect on the tunnel. A single portion 'moved' unnaturally which cracked the tunnel."

"I see."

"The original House of Loreto is famous for having been visited by the French king Louis IX. He most likely made a fragmentary analysis of it then and brought the theory of the spiritual item back to France. Someone must have used that to carry out this tunnel explosion. I can see some descriptors scattered about the spell that were changed to make it travel to France."

"That pretty much confirms that this was done by a French Roman Catholic faction," said Second Princess Carissa with a smile. She then looked down to the ground. "Not just a French-made spell, but a spell that was related to an analysis done by their royal family. Their magicians wouldn't be able to use that. We should assume that a unit under direct control of their head group was involved."

"We can't be sure of that. The French monarchy was ended long ago, so a spell related to a former king wouldn't necessarily have connections to the current political power."

"The cornerstone of the brains that control the current ruling political power there is an aggregation of strategists and tacticians taught by the knowledge of the historical kings. It wouldn't be surprising if that unofficial collection of brains had treasure from the royal palace."

Carissa stopped speaking for a second and looked Index in the face when she spoke again.

"But I'm truly glad."

"?"

"For me, there's no problem as long as this is determined to have been done by France. As long as you didn't say that France had nothing to do with this, there was no problem. So let me say it again: I'm truly glad. If you hadn't given me the answer I wanted, I would have had to kill you here."

"!?"

Index put herself on guard while seeing a smile spread across Carissa's face.

But there was only a submerged tunnel behind her. She had nowhere to run.

That was when the head of the knights, Knight Leader, arrived.

The man who was supposed to be guarding the princess and Index was holding an old rectangular case in his hand.

"Release Skíðblaðnir. I want to check on the sword before we end up in a full-blown war."

The second princess held out a hand and Knight Leader unlocked the rectangular case.

The wooden mosaic-like structure on the surface of the case moved complicatedly, expanded, and changed into a giant canoe. A sword in a scabbard lay within the boat.

Carissa grabbed the scabbard, pulled out a sword with no tip or blade, and laughed.

"Curtana Original…" Carissa lightly waved the sword like a conductor's baton in front of Index who didn't really understand what was going on. "Since I hate the traditions of England, I really should just go ahead and break it now, but I'll use it while it's still useful to me."

"You now have established your sovereignty over the entirety of the United Kingdom. Your words already represent the intentions of the country, but how about you make a declaration to France?"

"Just report to them what Index Librorum Prohibitorum said. Oh, and add on a final notification. This country did manage to compile those 103,000 grimoires, so it makes sense to use them for the country's benefit."

Index glared back in response to Carissa's words.

The second princess ignored her and spoke to Knight Leader.

"The royal family and the knights can indirectly pressure the military into acting, right? Have them deploy a destroyer into the Strait of Dover. Make it so we can fire a missile into Versailles depending on their answer."

"We can have the military act, but shouldn't we give some thought to Academy City and the science side? Three of their levels fives are in this country."

"Ignore them" that was Carissa's simple answer. "Our country should hold the reins of its own military power. Being influenced by other countries isn't right. I hope Eolas at least will join me, but just in case send them a warning, we will not hold back if those level fives interfere."

"Understood."

That decision threatened the extremely tenuous connection between Academy City and the Anglican Church, but Carissa didn't seem to care. Knight Leader decided not to comment on it. But they had to be careful, if conflict with one of the level five became known. It would give Academy city the political right to interfere. Out of the three only Eolas can interfere without causing that political situation. He is after all native to England and a true son of the Stuart family. It was this status which has allowed him to interfere in both sides of magic and science for many years.

"But is targeting that palace really the best idea? I have heard that the current political power of France is controlled in the shadows by a group of strategists who have no specific base and who intentionally avoid forming an organization."

"Yes, but it's a fact that the woman who possesses the greatest intellect among the strategists is hiding there. If we blow her away, the others will realize that a pathetic hideout will do them no good because we'll just blow away the entire city."

"What kind of warhead should we use?"

"Use the bunker cluster ones that was developed using technology original to England. That warhead spreads out around 200 special smaller shells that are made to pierce a shelter 50 meters underground. That will turn the entire city block that palace is on to Swiss cheese."

"…Might I remind you that that would be in violation of the treaty we have banning cluster bombs?"

Second Princess Carissa laughed.

"The English military authorities never intended to sign that treaty. It was forced on us with pressure from France and the other EU nations. But this is actually perfect timing. We need to check over all the treaties we have with other countries and annul all the unnecessary ones. We can start with the bunker cluster one. The EU is just a bunch of countries influenced by the Roman Catholic Church anyway. This is an excellent opportunity to cut our ties with them."

"…"

"We can also do away with our backing from America related to the dollar. Let's wipe the slate clean regarding the interactions my mother carried out." She remained silent for a short time. "The Anglican Church and Academy City vs. the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church? What kind of war is that? Whether the magic side or the science side wins, England is done for. If the Roman Catholic Church wins, they'll go right ahead and destroy us. And even if Academy City wins, a magical country like England will be isolated within a world ruled by science. A war that leaves us no path but to become a dependency is meaningless."

"And that's what your declaration of intentions is for?"

"Yes. To avoid becoming a dependency in the future, acting after the war is over is too late. We of course need to brush away the strength of Rome and Russia, but we also need to cut our ties with Academy City. If we don't change this war from being a conflict between two sides to being a three-sided war with England isolated, we have no future. That's what the proclamation is for. Using the destroyer will cut our ties with Academy City and the bunker cluster will stop the interference from the EU and the rest of Europe. Isolation is the sole path that will save England."

"Isolating ourselves from the EU could devastate the economy and lead to a lack of resources. With the cutting off of supply routes from the Eurotunnel bombing and the hijacking, we're already in bad shape. How can you think of making that worse?"

"It's true that there will be disorder for a bit." Carissa did not deny that possibility. "But victory in this war that will shake the world will greatly change the makeup of the world. By driving all Roman Catholic control from Europe and creating a structure centered around England, the problems surrounding the economy and resources will be solved. It's actually quite simple. Just like how America once aimed to police the world and what Japan's Academy City succeeded on doing in secret, we just have to create a society where England is needed by the rest of the world. Once that happens, no one will let us run out of resources."

What she was saying wasn't just a fantasy.

The scale of the war eating into the world bit by bit was already at the level where the victor would be able to take control of the world.

"My mother's pacifism may have had its merits, but it only works in an era where the world is at peace. She should have been more aware that the problems before her were portions of a war developing on a global scale even if it didn't look that way on the surface." As Carissa spat out those words, she roughly swung Curtana Original onto her shoulder. "In any case, for the sake of this country's future, we need to win this war without accepting any cooperation or allowing any interference from others. Sending a destroyer packed with bunker cluster missiles into the Strait of Dover is the first step towards that end."

"Understood. I will have them make preparations to load the missiles on a destroyer anchored in a naval port."

"If only we had nuclear missiles. I suppose we should develop some once the situation within the country has been sorted out."

"…With all due respect, I would prefer we use something that would not be harmful to those who set foot in the palace after the missile hits."

"Ha ha. But radiation poses no threat to that body of yours. Or are you worried about the foreign citizens? We can send out a warning beforehand. That woman isn't going to leave Versailles even if we do, so I'll allow that much."

"Now then." A bitter smile appeared on Knight Leader's face and he turned towards the bewildered Index. "What about the grimoire library?"

"At the very least, she gives legitimacy to our final warning for France."

"What if her opinion is officially overturned?"

"Due to her perfect memory, she remembers what she said verbatim, so there will be no reason to doubt its authenticity if we have her read back what she said."

Not being part of the discussion, Index took a step back despite knowing it was futile. Her shoes and the bottom of her skirt were already starting to sink into the ocean water.

"Okay, we will go with that for the long term. What should we do in the short term?" asked Knight Leader frankly.

Carissa gave a short laugh.

"Put her to sleep."

Index did not have time to resist.

Knight Leader's fist plowed into her solar plexus. And he caught Index's body before she feel to the floor, now carring her knock out body. The knight Leader stood up and wasn't looking towards the princess. The other knights from the Leader's eye contact left the area bit.

"Now only me and you can hear what is now to be said. Aren't your forgetting about them?"

Carissa laughed again.

"Of course not. But they don't matter, they cling to this country with both hands and don't let go. It's only inevitable that their lifeless fingers will be plucked away. But... again that doesn't matter. The moment he joins us, their interference will be at an end. Once we do away with his sister of course."

"We can offer retribution against the two groups which has up-heaved his life. There are many benefits for him joining our side and bringing his family under control. But you need to plan in the possibility he will decline your offer? He isn't going to be easy to put down and this isn't overestimating his abilities."

"You don't need to remind me. I read much about what happened with Villian and France. How his family wanted to sacrifice her to not only put the French in their place but also my mother. But thanks to a certain mercenary, that plan had failed so the boy's father requested his intervention instead from Academy city. Ten years ago? He would be less then a year into his training and yet that boy was powerful enough to end the crises between our countries... I seen the phones of bones pulled out of French soldier bodies and footage of giant buildings being flung like rag dolls... I had also learned that he was suppose to lead an army to lay siege to Vatican city. If every goes according to how I'ld hope. Why don't we just give him a platoon of knights and let him do what he was made too do? ... They made a remarkable weapon and if he comes to our side, then the future of this country would be absolute. While it would be a shame to fight somebody like him, it sure would be entertaining."

Upon saying this both of them started to head for the tunnel's exit. On the way the princess continued thinking about the current situation.

"Now then. The main problem is my mother and my sisters. We have to kill them. Only the royal family can control Curtana and I should really restrict who can use it further. Laura and Eolas may be rumoured to be decedents of a king, we can't dispose of them because of rumours. Facts help win conflicts not rumours." said Carissa as she exited the Eurotunnel.

"I received a report that my mother was restrained at Windsor Castle, but we don't know where Rimea is. Her distrust of humans is a result of her survival instincts. She probably didn't come with us to the Eurotunnel because she sensed the danger. Also, I highly doubt she would let someone else know where her hideout is."

"Lady Rimea also goes out into the city while hiding who she is. She may have a certain number of people who will shelter her without even knowing she is a princess."

"Earl would be able to track her presence. In fact it's likely hes already on the case after helping New Light."

The second princess looked around the area.

Her eyebrows moved out of displeasure.

"Leaving the exceedingly competent first princess aside for a moment, where is that incompetent third princess?"

"About that…"

Knight Leader pointed towards the collection of carriages. The royal family's carriage and the ones for guards and assistants were lined up. Yet one of them were clearly missing. Given the situation, it seemed likely that Third Princess Villian had left on it. But even after coming up with that answer, a puzzled look remained on Carissa's face.

"How did that sister of mine sense the danger? I thought her speciality was trusting people, not suspecting them."

"…"

Knight Leader hesitated to respond for an instant and Carissa spoke again before he could answer.

"I see, I see. Rimea has the intellect, I have the military, and she has her benevolence. Even if she's incompetent herself, she has no problem gathering skilled people around her."

As she spoke, Carissa walked in a different direction from the carriages. A number of servants who had been the ones to help Villian escape were already surrounded by fully equipped knights.

"It looks like there are no Royal Maids or armed aides among them. We might have had some trouble if a Saint like Silvia had been here."

"Lady Villian especially hates having military power. Most of the people here are commoners."

"Hmph. Is that why you're in such a bad mood? Regardless of what their position or social status may have been, there is no excuse for allowing my sister to sense the danger and get away."

"But…"

"I'm sure you've 'asked' them where Villian is headed and they didn't tell you anything. Otherwise, you wouldn't have reported that her destination is unknown."

The servants stood huddled together and Carissa pulled her sword from its scabbard.

This was the special sword with no blade or tip.

"Because of the sword's form, it is called the Sword of Mercy, but I'm not so sure that's accurate. Since you can't slice through someone in a single strike with it, it seems much crueler to me."

The servants watched her swing the sword up. They were all looking at it with frightened expressions, it was becoming quickly clear that the second princess had no intention of asking them questions. She only wanted to kill them. However the Knight Leader stepped between the blade and the frightened princess without a whisper looked at the Leader of knights blocking her way from her kill. And she spoke without any emotion.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I advise that you restrain your sword here."

"I have no reason to listen to you."

"In that case, feel free to cut me in two along with them."

Carissa's shoulders moved in response to his unhesitating words. But they weren't to actually cut him down, but actually due to laughter. A few of the servants behind Knight Leader let out small screams upon seeing her smile. A smile could create fear. Her smile taught that well.

"…You aren't being honest." The second princess stared into Knight Leader's darkness enjoying it from the bottom of her heart. "You determined that I still need you. Even though I have the freedom of being the second princess and now the head of state, you see yourself as a trump card I have to protect. That's why you stood in front of those servants. …You're quite the skilled negotiator. It's true that I am currently not willing to kill you merely to kill some commoners."

"…"

"But keep one thing in mind."

The second princess's smile grew even wider.

The moonlight glittered on her sword and her expression resembled a split bag.

"That changes when it comes to my mother and my sisters. If you get in the way of their executions, I will cut straight through you. Their deaths are more important than you."

"…Understood," responded Knight Leader as if he were stifling his feelings. "I was merely suggesting that you avoid making unnecessary judgements. When the action is truly necessary, I have no reason to stop you."

"I hope you mean that."

The second princess returned Curtana Original to its scabbard, shrugged her shoulders, and left. Knight Leader threw a look at the knights surrounding the servants and they slowly spread out and away from the servants. Without looking at the servants, Knight Leader told them one thing.

"Go."

"…Sir Knight Leader, I beg you. Please save Lady Vi..."

"Hurry!"

The servant stopped talking out of confusion over Knight Leader's angry shout. She merely bowed her head and ran into the dark forest with the rest of the servants. He was now left alone, with no one to talk too and he stood their in silence reflecting on his choices...

"Why does it feel like we got caught up in somebody else storm then causing our own?"

...

...

...

The search for Third Princess Villian began immediately.

While the knight leader and the second princess begun their search. A certain mysterious saint who wasn't currently with Willam and the New Light leader had somebody else in his grasp. There was ruthless intent coming from the man as he threw the gagged First Princess to the ground. It was true, the second princess knew he would be on her tail and that is exactly what had happened. But from how Earl was acting, it seems he expected what he would find next. Upon throwing the gagged first princess on the cold and hard road, he fell to his knees right beside her and grabbed on of her hands. He then took out what seemed like a carving knight and cut the left palm of the first princess' hand.

Then must to Riema's disgust, Earl then slowly licked the blood of her hand. He then muttered a few words to himself before staring intently in front of him.

"What great luck your little sister is actually heading in this direction."

While Earl seems to already be on the youngest of the princesses' trail, it would take nearly half an hour before the others catch on.

To prevent various types of trouble, the carriages used by the royal family and its guards all had systems installed that allowed their locations to be detected. Knight Leader knelt on the road, placed his hand on it, and muttered something. When he did, a number of lines appeared along the road as if they had been painted on with luminous paint. They indicated where the carriages' wheels had passed.

"Given the direction shes heading, it seems she is actually heading towards Buckingham palace? No shes heading to where that boy and Espers are staying at."

"I see. Did her conversation with that boy move her more then I expected? This isn't good if she manages to win his support then myself doing the same." Carissa gave a small smile after remembering seeing Eolas and Villian talking back at the palace. "Is she actually going to a Stuart for help?"

"Shall we pursue her?" The knight leader asked.

"First we need to make sure of one thing: Would the servants who provided her with the carriage have known about the tracking system? Is it possible they sent out a dummy?"

"They have seen magic, but they have never used it. As I told you, they are commoners."

"In that case, I'll have your head if this does turn out to be a dummy" the second princess said lightly.

She then pushed the knights aside with just a glance and headed for the stopped carriages. However, she did not get on the extravagant carriage meant for the royal family. She instead chose a military horse that had been trained for skilled knights to use.

"Let's go. We don't have time to spend on my incompetent sister. We need to hurry up and kill her so we can solidify our new order. I doubt France or rest of the Stuart support base would move this swiftly, but I would still rather not give either of them an opening."

The knight leader didn't respond to his princess, instead his body jolted as if he had noticed something important.

"What is it?"

"An aircraft" He quickly responded to Carissa's question.

She looked around, but didn't see anything of the sort. Knight leader then pointed towards his ear. Apparently, he really could recognize it by the sound.

"But this is odd. We currently control almost all of the transportation facilities. All of England's airports, both civilian and military, have been shut down and the runways can't be used. Could the Stuarts actually kept control of some airports?" It wasn't an unreal possibility, the Stuarts often had a hand in intelligence gathering. So manipulating their intelligence could of easily happened at any point.

From atop the horse, the second princess held out her right hand and Knight Leader tossed her a pair of binoculars. Carissa caught them with one hand and looked around using them. Suddenly, she stopped on one spot.

"There it is. It's flying at low altitude practically skimming the ground. …Are they trying to avoid being seen on radar?"

In the narrow view of the binoculars, she could clearly see a large airplane flying only about 5 meters above the asphalt. It appeared to be a transport plane and it had 4 propellers on its main wings. Carissa moved her eyes from the binoculars and smiled.

"If that isn't reinforcements from the knights, it's been hijacked."

"But the runways have all been blocked off! Even if someone forced their way through, we should have at least gotten a report of it! There is no way that blasted family has tricked us."

"I guess this is just a reminder not to underesitmatie that family. Recheck the communications spiritual items and make sure all future reports are confirmed from two sources." Carissa threw the binoculars back to Knight Leader. "…And there's the answer to the runway issue. Look. There are floats on the bottom of the plane. It's a sea plane. It can takeoff or land on a river or the sea instead of on a runway. …Come to think of it, there is a sea rescue craft moored at a lake in London's Hyde Park for an event being held for airplane fans."

"Let's shoot it down," said Knight Leader frankly.

"Too late. It's already here," responded Carissa from atop the military horse.

A strong blast of wind struck the dark forest.

The rescue plane was not so much flying through the air as it was traveling with its propellers like a hovercraft. The craft shot just above the ground at high speed like a bullet and flew right past the mass of knights.

As it did, a slide door in its side opened.

A figure unhesitatingly jumped from the plane into the middle of the knights.

The rescue plane was traveling at a speed greater than 500 kph.

The trajectory of the person falling from it was more like an impact from the side than a descent from above.

A normal person would certainly have become a stain on the road surface. In fact, it wouldn't have been surprising if it had created a crater with a radius of a few meters.

But this person landed softly in the middle of the enemy lines.

Almost like a feather and rather graceful.

It was not an easy-to-understand battle performance from some sort of military exercise, but someone with an understanding of a certain level of martial arts would naturally be able to tell what incredible skill was hidden in all the small movements making up the phenomenon occurring there. It was that kind of action. The knights hurriedly drew their swords to face the attacker who had suddenly appeared, but the figure standing amid them ignored them and glared in Carissa's direction.

"A Saint?" said Carissa quietly while being glared at. "In that case, the remaining Amakusas must be piloting that plane instead."

"…We can discuss this afterwards."

Surrounded by a large number of knights, Kanzaki Kaori reached for the hilt of her sword.

"I doubt it will actually stop all this chaos, but I have come to crush the leader of this coup d'état."

"I'm not going to let that happen" responded Carissa.

Hearing the second princess's words, Knight Leader took a step forward as if to protect Carissa.

"I will take care of this."

Carissa gave a slight grunt and gripped the reins of her horse. When she had the horse turn around and charged off in pursuit of the third princess, the look in Kanzaki's eyes harshened. However the Knight Leader remained in her sight, stopping her from what she had to do. With her hand still on the hilt of her sword, Kanzaki breathed unnaturally slowly.

"So you were so insistent in your invitation because you knew it would turn out like this. Rather bold even when somebody like 'him' returned to this country."

"I wasn't lying when I said that I wished for you to be a lady." Some emotion mixed into the light in Knight Leader's eyes. "However, it seems I was too late for that as well. Now that you stand before me as my enemy, I will show no mercy. And you don't need to worry about that boy, he would be a hypocrite if he doesn't join us."

There was something which was clear. Kanzaki was a Saint and she was fewer then twenty saints in the world. A saint was a person who possessed a certain talent or bodily characteristics and so held similar magical symbols to the Son of God from the moment they were born. As such, they obtained a fragment of his power that they could freely control. For most of her enemies, there was no need to even draw her sword. She had a hand-to-hand technique for semi-long distances called Nanasen that used wires and she could blow away most magicians by merely swinging Shichiten Shichitou's long scabbard. But she knew the enemy before her was the head of the knights of England. Knight Leader. She really doubted that she could defeat him that easily.

So she paid close attention to Knight Leader's movements and poured strength into the fingers holding the hilt of her sword. She took a moment to rethink what she plans to do.

_"...It looks like I'm going to have to go all out here, but I don't want to kill him if I can avoid it… I'll knock him out with the scabbard and quickly capture the second princess! That's the only way to quickly put a stop to this ridiculous rebellion!"_

But she didn't realise that something invisible was seeping from Knight Leader's body. And he disappeared from her sight. It took her a slight instant to realise that he was moving at tremendus speed and immeditantly after figuring this out she heard the slicing wind coming from directly behind her!

"!?"

She immediately turned around while bringing up her scabbard for defense. But the knight leader had merely kicked. Even so, Kanzaki's body of a Saint was blown away along with the guarding scabbard. While she was knocked back and lost her balance, Knight Leader sent his clenched fist into her gut.

A tremendous sound rang out.

Kanzaki's body was blown back 10 meters without landing and she struck one of the guard carriages. The carriage was protected by a number of spiritual items, but it was still smashed to pieces from the impact and Kanzaki's body slid along the ground after passing through it. The horses tied to the carriage panicked.

_"Gah….Wha-…!?"_

She was clearly shocked.

_"...I thought this was going to be an issue that normal methods weren't going to work on, but what's with this tremendous power…!?.."_

Including Saints, there was a maximum amount of power that a flesh-and-blood human could control, but he had clearly surpassed that.

_"...Don't tell me he's using the high-speed stability line like Acqua of the Back…!"_

Kanzaki was having trouble breathing as doubt entered her mind, but she didn't have time to think over it calmly.

Knight Leader had already jumped up five meters in the air and the soles of his shoes were approaching in order to crush her.

"!?"

Kanzaki immediately rolled to the side. But even with her physical abilities as a Saint, she couldn't get to safety in time. She avoided a direct hit, but the destroyed asphalt scattered around the area and struck her. Knight Leader looked silently down at Kanzaki as she rolled to the side with blood gushing from her. He was not watching her cautiously. His expression said that he saw no need to hurriedly pursue her.

"Why do you look so surprised?"

Knight Leader gently spread his arms wide towards Kanzaki who was completely on guard. He did not seem worried at all. He almost seemed disappointed.

"I am the head of the knights, one of the three factions. Even if you are a Saint, you are still just one member of the church. Did you really think you could fight on my level?"

"!"

Without responding, Kanzaki fired off 7 wires.

"…Long ago, an old friend of mine hit me with a dreadful surprise attack."

Knight Leader did not seem worried. He held a hand up in the air, grabbed all of the wires fired towards him, and forcefully ripped them apart. He hadn't used a weapon. In fact, he hadn't even used both hands.

"Ever since, I have always been on the lookout for surprise attacks."

While he spoke, Knight Leader "threw" the destroyed wires. Even if they were sharp, they were still basically just strings. They shouldn't have had any power to them, but Kanzaki's body flew back like a fired shell when they hit her.

_"Gh…bh….!"_

This time, Kanzaki finally stopped moving when she struck a tree in the forest.

The destroyed wires were no longer wires. They had been gripped with such strength that the metal wires had been compressed into a single mass and fired like a bullet from a handgun.

"The one to stand before me should be, at the very least, the head of the Anglican Church." Knight Leader said quietly as he cracked his knuckles. "No, the church simply does not have enough strength. I respect the royal family, but I stand above them when it comes to violence. Even the entire Stuart family. Frankly speaking, you simply aren't up to the task."

A tremendous sound rang out.

When Knight Leader's body disappeared, he was already directly in front of Kanzaki. Immediately after she jumped to the side, his leg blew away the trunk of a large tree with a single strike. It didn't break, it flew. As Kanzaki trembled at that destructive power, her hands subconsciously moved. They reached for the hilt of her sword.

_"...Oh, no…!"_

The reason a chill ran down her back was not due to a danger to her own life. Her hands had already moved. By the time she realized that, her right hand had already forcefully drawn her sword. She had used the true Yuisen. That ultimate attack that could cut down even a monotheistic angel flew straight for Knight Leader's neck.

He was unarmed. He had nothing that even resembled a weapon and his suit was not a spiritual item.

And yet, with a tremendous noise, he grabbed Kanzaki's sword with a single hand. This time, it was bewilderment, not fear, that wrapped around Kanzaki's entire body.

Having stopped her movement, Knight Leader spoke.

"Do you know why the longtime members of Necessarius did not begin a large-scale systematic resistance when we conquered the United Kingdom and instead quickly slipped into the darkness to wait for a better chance?"

Still grabbing the blade of her sword, he lifted one foot from the ground.

"It was because they knew that it was absolutely impossible for them to win in a straight fight against the knights while inside the United Kingdom. At least the Stuarts have a chance with their history"

A loud explosive noise rang out.

It was the sound of Knight Leader kicking Kanzaki. The tremendous force caused Kanzaki to lose her grip on Shichiten Shichitou and her body was knocked a great distance.

"There are many myths surrounding it's construction that goes back to the dark ages. But even then our country was constructed around Curtana and the four cultures and so the entire United Kingdom itself is bound by a special Christian rule. When in this land, the monarch is the leader of the angels and the knights are angels. …As long as we are in the country, there is just a sheer difference in the amount of power. If you want to kill me, you should first drag me outside of the United Kingdom. Or do what they did and held the pieces of Avalon."

_"…Uuh…"_

Kanzaki's consciousness was wavering as she watched Knight Leader toss Shichiten Shichitou aside.

"Also, we of the knights do not believe in the Anglican Church that Henry VIII created for political reasons. We see it as no more than something to use. Our essence is a single ideology created from a synthesis of Norse, Celtic, Charlemagnic, Germanic, and all other paths of knighthood. …That attack just now seems to have been a strike that circumvents numerous spells in order to injure angels, but that kind of detour isn't enough to circumvent my defenses."

Kanzaki attempted to stand up, but no strength would enter her legs.

There were special circumstances in that situation, but even so, that was the most ridiculous enemy she had ever faced. She had previously fought an imperfectly manifested version of the Archangel Gabriel and Acqua of the Back who used that angel as a symbol, but she had at least been able to "fight" against them.

But with Knight Leader she couldn't even do that.

And he did not even take pride in his strength.

"So you haven't given up yet," said Knight Leader narrowing his eyes out of disinterest. "In any case, a mere Saint cannot kill me with just their special strength."

As Kanzaki attempted to muster some more strength, Knight Leader casually approached her directly from the front.

"And guess what? I haven't even drawn my sword yet."

The knight leader said before instantly kicking Kanzaki. It was a kick from any fighting style, but more like a footballer aiming for the goal. And even still Kanzaki's body flew through the air and then rolled along the ground. Knight Leader didn't even look over in her direction and instead gestured at his subordinates. They all boarded carriages or mounted horses and headed in the direction the second princess had disappeared in.

Atop his horse, Knight Leader looked in Kanzaki's direction for just an instant. Seeing that she had completely lost consciousness, he spoke disinterestedly.

"So that's all a Saint can do."

...

...

...

It would bea while before the Knight Leader catches up on the Second princess. With his knights in toe they came to a sight he didn't exactly like personally. He had noticed that the princess had just arrived for both of them too see Earl dragging the third princess Villian by the heard towards her elder sister Rimea. While it's exactly what Carissa wanted to achieve her goals, there was an instant sight of delight but mere annoyance that it was done by that man then herself.

Both of them had left their horses and following the second princess from a distance behind. The knight leader watched as she instantly appeared behind her sister's back in a mere moment. The very presence of their middle sister, caused a very frightening felling go down both of their spines. While Earl just stood there with a delightful grin. He had them both gagged so it's not like they could make any remark. So they tried to struggle against their gags instead. But this was only met but a very hard punch to the back of their heads by Earl. Which had clearly knocked them both out instantly.

This was met by a cold stare from the second princess towards the Mysterious Saint. Before she remarked on it the Knight Leader had finally stood by her side and many of the knights were on stand by on both sides.

"Violent. But I suppose this no longer matter, Knight Leader prepare to execute them."

She said coldly, but both of them knew she actually didn't have the heart to do it herself. She wasn't afriad to admit it, but she wasn't going to allow this Earl individual to take their lives. That honour would be to the Leader of knights who spent most of his life protecting them up to this point. That was his duty. Now it was his duty to give them a clean death.

With a simple stare towards one of the other knights, he took a large axe which would be fit for a clean beheading. After taking the axe he turned his attention towards the two princesses slumped on the floor, very convenient it would make the deed much easier. The second princess smile was growing realising her plans were coming together nicely...

...Until...

...A certain Lion had caught them in his sight...

It wasn't something you expect, but it did happen and it came down with a thunderous roar as it ripped through the rows of knights. The Knight Leader and the princess had good memory and recgonised what had soared through the sky was a tree ripped from the ground at the park earlier. The very same park the Knight leader had put Kanzaki down. After realising this fact, many more trees came flying from the sky and instant the ranks of the knights all around them. Even the ones that crashed into the ground were once again uprooted and into the fray. Many more kept coming because of this barrage of trees...

They failed to notice a certain boy who stood between all three of them at tremendous speed. They didn't have much chance to react as the boy laid his fist into the stomach of Earl A Stout and sent the Saint rocketing into air and smashing right through the side of the apartment building nearby. The boy then turned with the same speed towards the Knight Leader, who was able to notice what had happened. The timing was perfect and he had saw it was none other then **Eolas Stuart**. It made sense the trees were being thrown around with none other then telekenesis.

Their eyes were about to meet in that quick instant, he had expect to see the same eyes of the boy he met at the palace. But they were something completely devoid of human emotion. They were the frightening stare of something completely out of this world. The pure white eyes that is a trademark of when Eolas uses a high level of his power. And before he comes to understand this the Knight Leader found himself flying in the opposite direction of the boy, who had struck him with an invisible blast of telekinesis and sent the leader of knight crashing into a nearby car, which was instantly smashed straight through on impact and not even the lamp post did much to stand in the brunt of the Impact the knight leader endured.

While the Princess was going to share the same fate as the other two, she had enough time to react and with tremendus speed she had gotten away from his grasp. Seeing this the trees he used as a distraction and weapon started to fly around him in a circle like they were protecting Eolas and the two princesses. Ensuring the many knights were warded away. Then in a show of complete control Eolas made the trees stack up in neat piles around him. Like they were placed down by woodcutters.

Then with a furious stare when his eyes turned back to normal, he shouted with much rage to match that frightening look.

"What the hell do you think your doing?!"

* * *

**Author notes:** The longest chapter I ever done to date, which is mostly because I got most of the extracts that needed to be use from the light novel in this chapter. Specially Kanzaki's fight. I thought it needed to be put into this story incase somebody who reads this hasn't read the LN. But thankfully that should be the end completely to any more extracts. As you can tell from the ending of this chapter and even through out. This is no longer the same English civil war.

William, Lessar, Bayloupe and Mikoto's activites up to this point will be revealed in the part of next chapter. We also find out how Eolas found them. *A saint and the knight leader fighting wasn't exactly quiet* In case there is somebody still wondering about Touma, Misaki and Sarah. We find out what happened to them and more when things return to the hotel. There will be a few chapters dedicated to those threes actions on this night of civil war.

Also for anybody who likes to guess story points before they actually revealed. Keep note of some things revealed in this chapter, they will be important.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. And one more thing about the next chapter, be prepared for more serious action. Saint vs level five esper and much more. It's going to be one hell of fight.

Next time **Chapter 14** - Worthy of Name


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